


A huge secret to keep

by Donaji25



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Big Bang Theory (TV), The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-27
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-02-19 01:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 60,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2368997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donaji25/pseuds/Donaji25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sheldon Cooper never thought that the reason behind Penny being able to avoid his anti muggle spells was this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A big secret

**1.-A big secret.**

 

Sheldon Cooper was a wizard.

 

Ever since his parents discovered his genius mind, and after his mother took him to a certain test he knew he was special. Soon when he was about to turn eleven a few universities were looking for him to study abroad, it was a surprise for him that during that same week a few other letters arrived in one of the most weird ways he had ever seen.

 

He had been at his Mewmaw’s house when not less that 5 owls entered the room, startled he had hurried to look for the elder woman, less surprised that what he had thought his grandmother would be, she went to the birds and took the letter that each one of them were carrying. It wasn’t the first time he had saw that kind of birds arrive to his grandmother’s house, and of course he knew they were carrying messages, but they had never been for him. After the birds had gone away his grandmother turned around to look at him.

 

-I think you have some big decisions to make Moon pie.

 

Sheldon had already been talking to his parents about what his future studies would take him to. His grandmother was a witch, he had know for a long while and was the only secret until then that he had ever needed to keep, for some reason she had always hidden that little peace of information from her family, or at least from his mother since the moment she knew her daughter in law was such a religious fanatic, his father had promised never to reveal the secret. His brother and sister had no magic powers, and Mewmaw told him that every time he had shown his powers she had made quick job so his parents wouldn’t suspect.

 

And now that he had less time to choose what college to assist, he had to make also the decision of what magic school to go. Hogwarts seemed like the best choice, but it was too far from Germany for him to make the trip even via the flu network, and he was too young to attempt apparition just yet. So he settled for Durmstrang, the magic school was near the muggle College he had chosen, and that way he would be able to put his brilliant mind to work on both things. With his IQ it was hardly impossible for anybody else to do what he did.

 

The moment he sent his study plans to the Headmaster of Durmstrang a letter came back with a special schedule for him and a time-turner, making his days impossibly long from that moment on.

 

It took him four years to get his first PhD; by that moment at Durmstrang he was making early attempts at his O.W.L.S. It was lucky to get called to another college as an invited professor, giving him time to get his second PhD and finally leave Durmstrang. Those 6 years of studying at a muggle school along with the magic school had given him problems with social interactions due to his restricted schedules, but at the same time it had open the opportunity to try and unravel the mysteries of the universe using both points of view. His magic knowledge, combined with his physics studies made him the most impressive Physicist in the world.

 

In the magic world he had already made huge breakthroughs, but most of his findings he was still trying to translate to something muggles could comprehend, and that required time.

 

And when he came back to his country there were some things he had to solve before attempting to gain the respect of the muggles in the science world. So he took the exam to enter one of the only specialty magic schools in the country: Brakebills. There he improved quite a lot. His ability to make magic without speaking became better, and soon he was using his wand in less things that he had ever thought he will.

 

Of course while being in Brakebills he had already taken his job at Cal Tech, he had gotten himself a new time-turner after leaving Durmstrang, and that way his schedule was never disturbed.

 

A while later he met Leonard, and with him Howard and Raj. By then he was already recognized in both worlds as a great wizard, and one of the greatest mind of the century. The amount of secrets he was already concealing made it difficult for him to be able to keep “secrets” that were less important than those he had.

 

So far he had modified his personality so that no one in the muggle community would ever find out his secret; the infamous room-mate agreement had a magic clause that authorized him to delete his room-mate’s memory if he ever found out, Leonard had become oblivious to that clause the moment he had signed it. His phobia to germs was something he had developed due to a sickness he had had at Durmstrang that got worse because of a combination of a muggle virus with a magic one. His dislike for birds came from a very upset owl, not a chicken. And althought his room was surrounded by many spells to keep muggles away he still made sure that no one would go in there.

 

In there he had his collection of cards from the Chocolate frogs, his magic chess, the gobstones and those figures from his favorite comic books that had been modified, either to move or to fly if they were ships.

 

With all that said it wasn’t difficult to figure out why he was so surprised right now. Leonard was away, visiting his parents at New Jersey, Raj and Howard never visited him if his room mate wasn’t there. But that neighbor of them… Not even placing a good muggle repellent in the door had stopped Penny to come into his apartment the only day he was allowing himself to do some magic.

 

He had stopped in the middle of making the tea pot fly to the coffee table while he was looking at the movies floating in front of him to find an acceptable one to watch. The silence that followed the moment Penny took in what she was seeing and Sheldon reaction was unreal. When Sheldon’s brain processed what had happened, the implications and what he needed to do, he finally moved. The tea pot finished its way to the coffee table, and the movies placed themselves over Leonard’s chair.

 

Penny was still standing by the door, her mouth and eyes wide open in surprise, he stood up, moving confidently to where she was and making her walk in the apartment and closing the door behind her.

 

-What the hell was that Sheldon? - said Penny finally snapping out of her shock.

 

-What do you think it was Penny? - Sheldon crossed his arms, frowning at Penny.- You know I never make mistakes, and I’m sure my repellent was so good that no one in this building would even come near my door. So I think you are the one who has some explaining to do. - He looked at her lifting his eyebrow in his signature inquisitive look.

 

When she didn’t answer he started to pace in front of her, not sure if he should tell her.

 

-I am a wizard- he finally said- what you saw was magic, if you’re a witch yourself you should tell me right now, or else I’m thinking seriously on deleting your memory, you shouldn’t had seen that, I’m giving you just one chance, you cannot afford to loose your memory, you attention to anything is already weak.

 

-Yes, you’re right- Penny’s gaze dropped to the floor, and this time it was Sheldon the one to look at her in surprise. - I’m a witch too, but unlike you I was never able to attend any magic school, my parents thought it was all a joke. Some teachers even came to our house and tried to explain, but after being threatened by my father’s gun they never came back. I made my own research of course, I wrote to the Headmaster, and I got to know what all this was about, but I’ve never learned to control my powers. You’re amazing by the way.

 

Sheldon thought of what he just heard, he had never heard of a similar case in his life. It explained of course why his muggle repellent hadn’t worked, and why she was always able to sneak into his room.

 

-What was the name of the school that accepted you?

 

-Hogwarts. But after just a few letters the Headmaster stopped answering, so I forgot about it. Until now, I never thought I was going to meet someone from the Wizard community, to be honest I never thought it would be you of all people, always talking about physics laws and logical stuff, even dismissing my believing in the horoscope, I’m fearing this is just a dream and not something actually happening.

 

Sheldon went to sit to his spot, thinking about what Penny had just said. He saw the steaming tea pot still over the coffee table and he took his wand from his pocket, flicked it a little and another cup appeared next to his. He then pointed at the tea pot and the warm infusion was poured in the cups. Penny looked at him in awe.

 

-Have some tea Penny, there’s no need to letting it cool down. I’m still thinking of what you told me. For some reason I’m considering letting you go with you memory intact. But I think I might need to consult somebody.

 

Penny took the cup of tea and remained silent, as if by doing so somehow he would make up his mind and let her keep the memory, or maybe just wondering if the tea had some magical property.

 

Sheldon took his own cup, and started sipping it while looking puzzled at Penny. When he finished, he made some movements with his right hand and the movies on Leonard’s chair, the tea pot and the cups disappeared, a quick glace told Penny they had got back to their place. Sheldon then stood up again and walked towards the window, this time he moved both of his hands while mumbling something that sounded like a song, and to Penny’s surprise a fireplace started “growing” from the floor. With another flick of his wand fire started to crept inside.

 

-I think I can help you, come on. - He said taking a something from a bowl over the recently ‘grown’ fireplace and throwing it in the fireplace, making the fire grow and turn green.

 

Penny almost jumped from the couch in excitement, moving faster until she was standing next to Sheldon. He smiled at her amazed expression, and then pulled her wrist and jumped with her into the fire.


	2. Apprentice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Penny is also a witch, but she knows nothing about performing magic, how is Sheldon going to help her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Never thought it would be received this well. Thank you very much for reading, please leave a comment and let me know where do you want me to led this story.

2\. - Apprentice.

Penny shouted when the green flames enveloped her body, she was not afraid of being burnt, she had heard about the Flu network, but had never traveled by it, and the sensation made her feel suddenly lighter, as if she were free falling, but the hand holding her wrist never let go.

When they arrived they were at a place that looked very much like a government office, but the obvious magic in the air told her it wasn't any normal place, there were some people writing over huge books, people waiting in line to enter different offices and paper planes flying over their heads. She had never been to a place like this, where everybody was a witch or a wizard already, and was too amazed to make any question.

Without hesitation Sheldon started pulling her towards an office, he might have know where to go because he never stopped to ask, once they reached the place he was looking for he let go of her hand.

-Sheldon, what are we doing here? What is this place?

-Seeing that you are not an authorized witch and have no license to appear, we require a permission to travel. With no means to offend you in any way Penny but I'm going to refer to you as a muggle, and maybe my current fiancé for the time being, as it's the only way they are going to grant us the right to travel, and we need to speak to some people to allow you to get your rightful place as a witch, and since you are currently in age to do this without your parents help I think it's for the best.

-Wait, wait, wait! You are going to lie? You don't lie! You are Sheldon Cooper, Mr.'I-can´t-tell-lies'! - Sheldon just looked at her with condescension again.

-Penny, I'm a wizard, and one of the most brilliant minds in either world, I once told you that I'm not good at keeping secrets or telling lies, but I managed to hide this from you and the others. And you still think I can't tell lies or keep secrets?

Penny gaped, she had no answer for that, it was true that Sheldon had managed to keep this from her and their friends, and maybe from the whole place he worked at, but she was used to Sheldon being… well, Sheldon, the sudden revelation that he was able to do the only things he would never do under his façade made her feel as if he was a stranger, and also made her think of all the things 'this' Sheldon had hidden from them.

-Now, come on, we need to work in this quickly- he said knocking at the door once, he had to stop himself from making his signature knocking, Penny saw how he had to use his left hand to stop the right one, some things were difficult to avoid, she thought, this routine was the prove.

-Come in- said a female voice from inside the office. Sheldon opened the door, Penny entered just behind him. The office was a little room, furnished only with a bookshelf, a pair of chairs and a desk.

-Oh, hello Dr. Cooper. It's been a while since I last saw you, what can I do for you? - said the little witch behind the desk, standing up and showing them to the chairs. The witch was a chubby woman, dressed in a muggle green suit, but wearing a black tunic over her jacket, she was wearing glasses, and her red hair made her look a bit exotic.

-Hello Ally,- said Sheldon taking a sit in front of the desk and waiting for Penny to sit down next to him.- you know the only possible thing for me to be here is to ask for a permit to travel outside the country.

-Is it the usual? You've never brought anyone before. - The woman looked at Penny with a kind smile, and then flicked her wand in the air and a tray appeared floating in the air next to them. - Can I offer you something to drink?

-No thanks, this is Penny, my… fiancé- said Sheldon struggling a bit before saying the last word. - We want to start the paperwork as soon as possible, and since she's a muggle I require the special permit to take her with me.

-Congratulations Dr. Cooper, give me just a minute, it's a piece of cake, not many couples come here as a first stop when it comes to this, they always run around the offices before noticing they need a travel permit to complete the register of their partners at the Ministry in London. - said Ally standing up and looking inside some drawers for the paper they need to fill.- Good thing you're a genius, this would save you a lot of time.

Penny watched as the lady started filling the blacks on the paper, she just asked Penny her name before handing Sheldon a copy and waving him good bye. Once outside the office Penny lowered her voice and asked.

-Why do we need to go to London?

-Generally speaking if we really were to get married then we should get some more papers, wizards have always kept the community as a secret, it's part of the law, so when someone wants to marry a muggle the government makes an investigation to see if the person is capable of keeping the secret, they also search their family line to see if there's any connection with the original pure blood families, it can happen, they also ask the person to visit London's Ministry of Magic so they can make a file of the person and to explain and make the sign a paper with their rights and responsibilities, once married and in case their offspring inherit the magic. If your parents had accepted to let you go to Hogwarts then they would have need to do almost the same, its just for control purposes, and it also benefit them if they are involved in a magical accident, if many people is involved, with that file they don't get their memories erased.

-Cool- said Penny remembering some of the problems she caused when she wasn't able to control her magic as a little girl. She knew the accidental magic in her first years was tracked and dealt with, but while she grew up and more accidents happen, she found herself involved in more and more trouble, it had been in the first place why she had ended up moving to California. She shuddered at the memory of what had almost (almost!) happened with Kurt.

-But since we are not going to get married, and we were not going to get this permit otherwise, we don't need to fill any other paper and can leave right away. - Penny wasn't expecting Sheldon to put his arm around her waist… or to see the world turn to a blur in front of her, the squeezing sensation that enveloped worst than the journey in the Flu network or to land feeling sick in a street were it was already dark.-Sorry, I forgot the first time appearing with someone was not really pleasant, I should have asked for a portkey.

Penny stumbled towards the wall of the nearest house and took in the view in front of her, forgetting that very moment of the feeling of dizziness. Right at the end of the street she could see the most iconic building of the city: Elizabeth's tower (The Big Ben), the visible face of the clock illuminated and the starry sky reminded her of a Disney movie.

-Come on Penny, I ordered a pizza a while ago and I don't want to give more than three turns before heading back, it would ruin my sleeping schedule.

Sheldon had waited for her to take in the view of the city, giving her time to compose herself before signaling the red phone box in the next corner and walking towards it. The blonde was feeling overwhelmed, she had dreamed how the magic world would be, but what she had already seen was far over any fantasy she ever imagined.

Entering the Ministry of Magic was her least favorite, and she would have felt bored of walking through different offices if she hadn't know that Sheldon was used to make all this kind of "legal moves". They talked to many people there, Sheldon explaining why he had brought Penny; many of them asked her some questions before let them go to the next office.

Finally tired of answering questions and being dragged along through what felt like a thousand offices, she was sitting at the big fountain in the middle of the hall when Sheldon approached her followed by another wizard.

-This is Penny- said Sheldon introducing her to the man.- This is Alphonse, he's the one in charge of helping muggle families, and of course of managing people who like you have been neglected by their family and never made it to a magic school.

-Hello Penny, can I call you for your first name?- said the man, extending his hand to greet her, Penny nodded while shaking his hand- I know it's been a long day, and for what Dr. Cooper said you have already completed all the necessary register. Right now all I need to see is if you can perform a little spell and then I will explain how things are going to work.

Penny smiled; she was going to make some magic at last. Alphonse led them to an empty room with its walls full of portraits; next to the door was a table with at least five wands.

-Take a wand- he instructed- its just to perform a basic spell so it's not going to reject you or anything like that.- he then handed her a piece of paper and made a heavy box appear in the middle of the room with a thud.- You are going to perform the spell to make things float, its pretty easy and it wont cause you harm in case you fail to pronounce the words, it also requires certain force to be used and that's what I'm going to use to determine if you can start your self training with mail classes or if you will need a tutor to guide you.

-So, I'm going to be allowed to study magic? That's great!

-Yes, it often depends on the wizard, some can manage to do magic and start training themselves, we test them here and give the necessary level, also there's people who can't make magic because their years of not using it made them loose "the spark" as we use to call it, there are also other people that can do magic but can't control it, to that people we set a person to help.

-Great. Sheldon, can you tell me how to pronounce this, I really don't want to mess this up, no matter if my chances are minimum.

-A wise choice! - Said Sheldon walking towards her and telling her how to pronounce and make the spell. - I'll make a little demonstration, is it ok Alphonse?

-Go ahead. - said the wizard smiling.

Sheldon took his wand and made a swift movement with it, pronouncing the spell loud and clear. - Wingardium Leviosa!

The box instantly raised three feet from the floor; he then made it go down smoothly. Smiling he turned to Penny. – It's been a while since I made this spell saying the words out loud; it's quite satisfying to do it again.

Penny smiled, a bit nervous this time, she turned to the box, flicked the wand in the air and pronounced the spell… Something happened that very moment, a few 'ah' and 'wow' were emitted both by the men behind her and the people in the portraits. She saw the box floating in front of her, smiling and feeling proud because of that.

-Sheldon I did it! Look, the box is floating! - She said turning her head around, only Sheldon was not looking at her from the ground.

-Calm down Penny! - Sheldon warned looking at her terrified expression, and stopping her right in the moment she was about to squeal and throw the wand to the air. - Lower the wand slowly, until the box is on the floor again. - Said Sheldon apparently amused by what just happened, when Penny made the spell work everything in the floor of the room floated, including Alphonse and him that were suspended in the air next to the table and the remaining wands, trying to keep a standing position without loosing balance.

Penny took a deep breath and with a trembling hand lowered the box to the floor.

-Wow Penny, that was… good, really good. This means your magic performance it's still strong enough, no wonder why Hogwarts asked for you, people at the US tend to go to the schools in the continent. But you are going to need a tutor to help you, the magic training allows the wizard to control his own power and to work for him, I suppose you are always dealing with the mess in your house, having your powers like this makes it difficult not to show in that way.

-I never noti…

-She's a very messy person,- Sheldon stopped her mid sentence- she would have never know part of her mess was because of her powers, I tried to help her with that once, now I see it would have prove worthless with the time.

Penny frowned and walked towards the table to put the wand again with the others.

-And who would be my tutor? - She said trying to change the subject from her messy apartment.

-I'll check the list of voluntaries, you won't need to pay it; I'll send you an owl next week maybe.

-Hey, hold on! - said Sheldon. – I can do it, I can tutor Penny through her magic training, the last thing I need is another witch or wizard messing things around, and if it's a wizard then she'll loose no time to have intercourse with him. No, I will do it, there's no need for anybody else to disturb my peaceful life.

Penny slammed her hand against her forehead, leave it to Sheldon to say something like that even in front of a stranger in a foreign country. Alphonse had turned red, but just nodded and moved towards the table.

-That's acceptable, Dr. Cooper, I'll make the necessary paper work and you'll be able to leave right after, give me five minutes. It's not really often that we need to arrange an apprentice contract, it's more of the days when there were no magic schools, but it's still viable and the Ministry updated the law after Hogwart's Battle a few years ago. It helped to regain control over the muggle born kids when the lists got lost.


	3. Pizza and questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little bit lighter, not many things happen, but i would like to ask you please to share some ideas with me, I need to know what kind of story you want, so tell, me about spells and transfigurations, magical adventures and other things you might want the character to face, please!

**3.- Pizza and questions.**

Going back to California that night was faster than going to London. The first thing Sheldon did was ask Alphonse if they could use the spare room where Penny had been tested, once there he took his pocket watch from his trousers, she noticed then that it had been modified to look like an ordinary watch, inside it was a tiny sand clock that turned when Sheldon activated the magic device, he told Penny to hold the chain attached to his belt, he then opened the watch and gave the screw three turns in the opposite direction of the arrows on a clock.

A strange whirlwind surrounded them, the images of what had happened in the room passing before their eyes in backward motion. A moment later they were alone again in the room.

-Hold on tight Penny, we're going back to California from here, hopefully this time you won't feel dizzy. - At his words Penny took hold of his left arm, her hand still holding the chain of the clock even when there was no need to keep doing so, and closed her eyes, the unfamiliar squeezing sensation enveloped them once more, this time when she felt her feet land again she opened her eyes slowly, finding herself in 4A once again. The fireplace that Sheldon had made grown in front of the window was roaring with green flames, but he just went near it and with other quick movement of his fingers it disappeared.

Penny walked towards the kitchen, where the tea pot and cups had appeared before Sheldon proclaimed he could help her, and took the cup she had used to drink tea a few hours ago, it was still warm.

-Sheldon… - she said feeling a bit stupid for having to confirm her suspicions- I didn't ask a moment ago, but… we traveled back in time in that room, didn't we? That's why the cups are still warm.

-You're right. Actually the flames you've just saw roaring in the fireplace were signaling our departure a few hours ago, but now we're back, we made excellent time if you ask me, when I travel in between hours I usually have to wait for the other 'me' to leave, or come out in a rush, good thing I always try to keep on schedule.

-How did we do that?

-With my time turner. I had one of this when I was at college, I used it to attend my classes at Durmstang and the university, and I might have spent 12 years instead of six at Germany for all the time travel I made. I modified this myself, from the outside is just a pocket watch, as it is from the inside to muggles, but now obviously for you and any other wizard is a time turner.

-Wow, that's… amazing. But what's going to happen now?

-Now- said Sheldon lifting a finger and walking towards the door – I'm going to pay for the pizza and while we eat I'll explain the generalities of our new paradigm, I'm also drafting a new agreement for you to sign with our new rights and responsibilities while I teach you. I will also include some points regarding any possible discovery from our friends, and the protective spells I will have to put in and around your apartment.

Penny was about to speak against that last statement when somebody knocked at the door, Sheldon smiled and then opened the door to receive the pizza from the deliverer outside his door. Once the door was closed and Sheldon had placed the pizza over the coffee table, Penny spoke again.

-Wait. You said you had placed some anti muggle something by the door, how is possible that the deliverer came here just like that?

Sheldon raised his eyebrows, as if he couldn't understand her question; he then sat on his spot and waited for Penny to sit next to him.

-I've been complaining with that store for years, their deliverers usually never came all the way up to the apartment to bring my pizza; I was tired of that so I "handled" the problem.

-Oh my good! You seriously bewitched them to carry the pizza all the way here.

-Hey! It's not a big deal and I have a special permission to do it; they should have done it from the beginning, and they're not "bewitched" I just placed a conditional spell in the front door, so whenever a pizza deliverer arrives, if the pizza is for me, they automatically are send up stairs, it's as if they feel the need to come upstairs, they haven't complained, me neither, two birds with one shot, they sell pizza, and I stop complaining with their manager.

-So, they don't notice they're being controlled by magic.

-No. And since the spell is mine, it doesn't interfere with my muggle repellent.

-Great!

-Now, I know you're not a woman who is very fond of school procedures, but since I'm going to be your teacher I need to think in every possible thing you might need during this process.

-What do you mean?

-Well, for starter you need a wand, and also a basic spell book, and potion materials, which we will buy in the nearest magic station.

-And, is it cheap? Or am I going to need to empty my bank account.

-Don't be silly. Muggle money is useless in those places. I'll buy it, I have enough from all the work I do for the community, and I'm sure the Ministry will give you the basic amount they always have for muggle born students. Although I don't know how this works since I wasn't expecting to get an apprentice. Don't worry Penny; I'll have you answers by tomorrow.

They ate the pizza in silence for a moment, the silence between them had never been something unbearable to Penny, but all the things that had happened that afternoon were weird enough. She still had some questions though.

-Sheldon, I know you said no one knows your secret, but, what about Leonard? Or our friends? Howard, Raj, Bernadette, Amy!

-What about them?

-Aren't you worried that they find out, about me at last? – Sheldon looked at her and the straightened himself in his spot.

-Penny, there's a special section in the magic law that says we, witches and wizards, have to make sure to keep our community a secret. I've been living with Leonard for almost a decade, and he's never been even close to find out anything. You even saw me play dumb with Howard with that children magic trick with the cards. And even if Amy that very close to me, or any of our friends ever found out, I would evaluate the level of trouble that implies, and fix it.

-What would you do to them?

-As I told you depending on the situation, I could try to convince them to keep the secret, but I could also erase their minds. Of course the government has their own way of dealing with leaks of that kind, but I don't see a reason why they should find out in any way. Now, your situation is new, but believe me, there are better ways to disguise all of this. And if you follow my instructions, as you are supposed to do anyway, then we have nothing to worry about.

Penny thought for a moment in every aspect in her life that was about to change, maybe she wasn't at all fond of following Sheldon's orders, because he had all those quirks that made her think he was a perfectionist, and his condescension was worrisome, but she wouldn't have trusted anyone else. If something he had proved himself to be very efficient.

-So, I suppose we will need to do some shopping soon. What am I suppose to do about that?

-When that moment arises I will call you Penny, also I'm afraid we need to find a good excuse for you to go to CalTech at least three times a week.

-Three…? Wha… Why would I need to go to your work?

-Because, I have an office there, a… special office- he remarked when Penny was about to protest – and I think it's the perfect place to use as a classroom for you to practice. Now, you should better be going, I need to go to bed and maybe tomorrow we will go shopping.


	4. The office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to visit Sheldon's class room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, here’s the next chapter at least. I’m sorry this one is as well still part of the introduction of the story. I’m still debating if I should make this a story shipping Sheldon and Penny or not (though I kind of feel it’s going to end at it anyway), so I chose neutral territory, since I have nothing against Leonard other than not like him being with Penny (same thing you can say for Amy, as lovely as she may be I don’ like to relate her relationship with Sheldon as ‘shame’, the contraction ‘Shamy’ just don’t fit), I’m not going to treat him/her bad, but they’re not going to have huge contributions to the story development, this chapter is basically so you can picture the main characters with no strings attached.

**4.- The office**

It was late in the evening the next day when Penny parked her car at CalTech, the sun outside almost blinded her when she tried to look up at the building. She wasn't really sure where Sheldon's new office was. So she walked towards the building and took her phone from her jeans pocket, she strolled down her contact list and touched Sheldon's contact to make a call.

-*Doctor Sheldon Cooper talking*

-Sheldon! Hey, I don't know where to find you; can you tell me how to get to your office?

-*And good evening to you too. Of course I can tell you how to get here, but I would prefer if you could wait for me at the cafeteria instead.* - Penny rolled her eyes at his friend's 'usual' behavior.

-Sure, why?

-*It'll make it easier to go to 'my office' from there, I'll go get you.*

-Ah… right. - Penny thought that was weird, he could have just told her where to go, she could find his office, why would he need to go and get her? Anyway, she walked towards the school's cafeteria; the classes had ended a while ago, so there were just a few students and teachers around, so she thought the cafeteria was going to be empty.

Of course she was wrong, she shouldn't be that surprised, Leonard, Howard and Raj were at one of the tables with their computers and some papers, chatting animatedly, she had no trouble at all with the guys, but she was afraid of ruining everything by telling them something about her new discovered condition as a witch, and she had no actual ideas as what to say if they asked her what she was doing there, she was about to turn around and see if she could catch Sheldon outside.

-Penny? Hey Penny! - She should know better than underestimate Howard Wollowitz, she slowly looked up at them as in surprise. –What are you doing here? It's really weird to see you here. – She put on her best smile and approached them.

-Hello guys! You seem very busy. - She said looking at all the papers with complicated equations, diagrams and notes.

-We're working on a new robot. - Said Raj smiling widely at her, and showing her some models on the screen of his computer.

-Yeah, it's that time of the year again and we really want to give it a try, you know, since last time we didn't make it to the competition. - Said Leonard a bit more serious.

-Oh, yes, your robot… thingy, that tried to kill me. –Said Penny feeling a bit nervous at the prospect of another robot, at least this time the 'killing machine' was not built yet- But that was years ago, I thought you were not going to make one again.

-Not. At the apartment, we learned our lesson,- said Howard opening his arms, as if to assure her they were going to work only at CalTech- and besides, this time Sheldon is not helping us, so the chances of our robot getting at least to the tournament this time are higher. - She smiled unconvinced.

-But you haven't told us- said Raj looking at a piece of paper and to his computer comparing notes – What bring you here today?

-Uh… Well, Sheldon called me, he said you were … uhm… - she stammered trying to think of a good reason.

-… going to be busy working on your robot, - Penny jumped at the sudden interruption, and turned to see Sheldon in his usual attire and carrying his messenger bag – I need to run some errands, and since I don't know how long it will take you to finish, I asked her to give me a ride.

-Very thoughtful of you. Thank you Penny, don't let him drive you crazy- said Leonard nodding at his friends.

She and Sheldon turned around and out of the cafeteria; she followed him for a minute before asking. – Don't you think Leonard is acting weird lately? He's less animated than usual.

-Yes, I've noticed too. But he always changes his mood after a breakup, I think this time he opted for the 'silent retreat'. Of course this time was not like the others as you two agreed that nothing good was happening with your relationship and needed a break, although I still don't know why if you're only being apart from each other for a while counts as a break up.

-It's complicated. - said Penny feeling a bit hurt herself, she was happy with Leonard, really, but somehow their relationship was getting boring, and predictable, so one night after a row about who was going to start the fighting that time, and actually predicting their next move made them realize that they needed time to find out why they were still with each other, was it really love or was it just that they were used to be together?- It's not really a break up until we call time up again and talk about what we really want.

-None sense. You should have asked me to write a relationship agreement, it solves things like this, Amy and I never had this kind of problems, and when we decided that our relationship was not really moving forward we just signed the termination of the agreement and everyone was happy. – Penny bit her tongue, she knew how hard it had been for Amy to pretend that she was fine with the way things ended between them, but she wasn't going to tell him about it. Sheldon stopped then and she looked around, for a moment not really sure of where they were. - Sheldon. Where are we?

They were still at CalTech, they hadn't walked outside, but the narrow corridor they were currently in was full of boxes and faulty chairs, she supposed it was the basement or something like that. Sheldon didn't respond, instead taking out a set of keys and opening the door to a tiny room with a foldable table, a chair and a blackboard with a 43 written on it.

-Come in Penny. - He said stepping inside the little room, she entered and closed the door behind her. She was about to repeat her previous question when Sheldon handed her his messenger bag, she took it and watched while Sheldon took out an antibacterial wipe and used it to erase the number on the blackboard.

A tingling sensation surrounded her, when what looked like one of those portals to different dimensions in cartoons appeared in front of them.

-I wanted to make it look like the one on Star Gate, but this one proved to be useful enough. I used it once to scare Howard and Raj- he said smiling at the 'portal'. - Come on, I want to show you the place. - He said graving her elbow and maneuvering her into it.

Penny closed her eyes and prepared herself to fall down or even to be transported like at the Flu Network, but she just gave a small step and opened one eye to see where she was. Sheldon stepped in behind her, almost making her fall by bumping into her.

-You must stop doing that Penny. I will never push you into an unsafe place before making sure you can handle it. - Penny opened her mouth to protest, but it died away as she took in the new room they were at. It was almost as big as his apartment, but it had the most interesting and weird looking objects, all of them in perfect order over special shelves around the room, he had a single desk and a work table in one corner, a huge bookshelf occupied an entire wall, and there was a window with the most amazing view she had ever seen, it actually looked as if they were on top of a mountain and the horizon showed other green mountains below, the picks covered in snow, a light fog surrounding the higher areas of trees and what seemed like the sun rising in the background, a very similar fireplace to the one they had used the day before was in the opposite wall, and Penny suspected it was the same one.

-Unbelievable!

-As you can see there's plenty of space here for you to practice what ever I teach you. There's a reading area and the books are available for you to read while you are here so you would be able to consult them if you ever have doubts. - He smiled at her, watching how exited she was, she had ran towards the window, and after a good look at it she hurried to see the titles of the many books and then to see the objects he had in the shelves, it made him feel proud, as he had never showed this place to anybody, other than the usual guest he invited to see his findings.

-I love this place! - said Penny once she had looked at everything she could in the room.

-Good. - He said simply, his smile being more expressive than him. A low 'ding' sounded somewhere behind Penny, and Sheldon walked in the direction of the bookshelf, where a small blue box stood, a little light flashing on the top. He tapped the light with his finger twice and the blue box opened, from inside it Sheldon took an envelope.

-I thought the mail was delivered by owls- she said while Sheldon opened the letter.

-It it, but as I informed you before I'm not fond of birds, so I developed my own mail delivering system, it's faster and I don't have to deal with feathers, annoying noises or stubborn owls. By the way this is the letter that officially makes you my apprentice; it also has a recommended book list, and the information about the vault to ask for the money to buy it. - Sheldon looked at her, his expression changing to a deep in thought one- So I think we need to go shopping; we actually have to run some errands now, and I'll have to make some changes to this list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, please keep sending your suggestions on what you would like me to write for Penny’s adventure as Sheldon’s apprentice, not that I lack ideas, but I like to widen my horizons and different points of view always make things unpredictable. Enjoy, read and don’t hesitate to leave a comment!


	5. The wand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know you all want the classes to start, but getting a wand is a very important thing, and Penny of course has still a lot to be amazed in the magic world

**5\. - The wand.**

Penny looked around, she hadn't really noticed the lack of doors until now, and even the 'portal' they had used to enter the office had faded away behind them. Feeling lost for a moment she looked back at Sheldon for help, he had already taken his bag and was waiting for her to move, the man just sighed and walked towards the wall they had used to enter, moving his hand as if to touch it, but just when his hand was supposed to hit the wall, it went through. Penny blinked; Sheldon moved his hand in and out the wall for emphasis.

-How…? – She could almost saw Sheldon exasperated glance starting to settle on his face at her confused response. – No way! – she said walking towards the wall and trying to place her hands on the wall, as if afraid of finding an invisible wall like a mime. Her hands went through the wall just like Sheldon's, she smiled brightly at him and then jumped through the wall, her instincts telling her that she was going to hit hard on the stone wall, when after two seconds of having jumped and not feeling other that a slight change in temperature, she opened her eyes, only to find Sheldon's looking at her from a distance closer than what she had expected.

-You knew the wizard community existed, how do you ever thought they were able to hide without ordinary people noticing? Surely you might have saw a thing or two during your youth, and the knowledge of the existence of this world should have taught you to notice this sort of things…

-I guess… Old habits die hard? - She said feeling a bit uncomfortable with him so close.

-… On the other hand you've always had trouble to focus your attention for larger periods of time. So it should come as no surprise to me. – She frowned at the rather weird physicist; he had a gift for breaking her mood. – It also explains why I was able to keep my cover for so long, have you been more observant you would have noticed earlier.

He then walked towards the blackboard and used his finger to draw the same number on it, it took a few seconds for her to notice that he wasn't using chalk, it was as if his finger was leaving the imprint over the board, for a second she felt shivers, and the 'portal' disappeared next to her.

-I could ask how, but you've been looking at me with that face you make a lot lately, so I'm going to ask, what is the 43 for?

-It stands for the number of 'portals' like this I've done. This is the last one I made.

-So, there are other 42 'portals' out there?

-Some, but not 42 anymore. Technically I didn't made the first one by myself, a teacher taught me how to make one so I could go from Durmstrang to college without arising suspicious at the place I was "staying". I found the process handy and also very easy, so I made one when ever I needed to go from one place to another. But not all of them are still functioning; I just like to keep the count in order.

-Durmstrang? Is that the magic school you were at?

-Yes, I studied there for six years, and during the same time I managed to get my first and second PhD. – Sheldon opened the door and waited for her to go out before locking the door again, then they started walking back to Penny's car.

-That makes it harder than what you told me first.

-It was. Of course with a mind like mine it was possible, but any other person wouldn't have managed to keep it for that long.

Not for the first time in her life Penny allowed herself to really admire the man walking next to her, he had lived what she considered to be the worst teenage years of life, studying in a foreign country, away from a very peculiar family, with students older than him and all the changes happening during those years, his amazing mind eager to learn, never forgetting; it was hard enough for her to picture him as an outcast in college, but knowing now that he was also a wizard student at that time, with all the time travel involved, made him almost older in front of her. And he was, how? … Thirty - something? At least his self esteem was justified.

They reached her car and climbed in it, she drove in silence, with Sheldon telling her where to go, a few minutes later they stopped in front of a little mall. Sheldon had made her drive there in a previous occasion, when he was trying to find a store selling special parts he wanted to get for his little train sets. He had ran to a store when they arrived, and she had to wait for him there, but this time he almost guided her through the various hallways in the place, until he stopped in front of a bookstore, next to a train store.

She looked uncertainly the door to the train store, but much to her surprise Sheldon entered the bookstore. Silently and feeling somehow out of place she followed him, he stopped at the Mystery section, which was the only section behind a curtain, inside the little room, the bookshelves were arranged in a very unusual way, most of the titles were backwards, and there were mirrors behind them, she smiled at the irony of the owner with his Mystery section. There was little gap behind one of the bookshelves, as if someone had tried to look at the titles from behind.

Sheldon pointed her to walk behind the bookshelf, and he went right behind her, a little pressed between the wall and the shelf, Sheldon looked at the titles on it.

-Look carefully; there must be a special book here. – She wasn't sure what he was looking for, but looked at the titles anyway. Not really interested on what the titles said but in searching for something that se considered 'special'. Suddenly it was Sheldon the one who said 'Aha' and picked up a book from the shelf. He held it in front of her with a wide smile; it looked like a children book, *"The Pagemaster", she just nodded at his enthusiasm, then he opened the book and looked for an illustration in the book that showed a mural painting on the ceiling of some building of the story.

-Take my hand. - Said Sheldon placing the book open in that page on the shelf, he opened the zipper of his messenger bag and pulled out his wand, with Penny's hand firmly held in his he tapped the book with the tip of his wand three times.

The painting seemed to grow in front of them until it was the only thing they could see, the sound of thunders and rain surrounded them, and the illusion of a 2D image suddenly became almost real… That was only until she felt the impulse of stand up. She looked around. A few people were walking around them; the little bookstore was no more a little bookstore. How they had ended lying on the floor in what looked like a big mall? She didn't know.

They stood up, Sheldon brushing the dust from his pants, she looked at the ceiling, the painting from the book now in full display, from there many hallways could be seen, one in every different direction, most of them where of books, but there were also many stores selling amazing things that she had never thought she would see.

-Come on Penny, we can't stay at the entrance. – Said Sheldon smiling again at her surprised face. – Welcome to "The Pagemaster Dungeon". Somebody named it after that book, and then somebody else made a spell and now any book with that title can be used to come here. And well, since then nobody has used the original entrance, I think people can't remember where it was anyway. Come on, we need to keep moving.

-Sheldon… - said Penny still gazing to every store she could lay her eyes on. – Why don't you have that book?

-I never needed to buy it, my Mew Maw has a copy, and she wouldn't mind to let me use it. Also the owner of that bookstore would never sell that book, he's a wizard too and his family works here.

-Why did they call it "Dungeon" instead of just "The Pagemaster"?

-"The Pagemaster" was a character in the book, the guardian of words; he summoned Richard, the protagonist, to his world so he could find the pleasure of enjoying a good book. The name of the library in the book is never revealed, and since this place is actually underground they thought the name Dungeon would match. It's to honor the 'amazing world' within the walls of the library. And since the place is also based on the hallways of the library I don't see why not.

Sheldon stopped outside of a place that looked like any bank office. Since there were not really much people there at the time, they entered easily and Sheldon made quick job talking to the wizard behind the cashier to retrieve the money they were going to use.

-So, where are we going first? – asked Penny once Sheldon was by her side again.

-To one of the Olivander's franchise. The first thing you are going to need is a wand.

-Oh, can I choose it? It's going to be part of my life for a very long time, so I would rather like it if it's from some elegant wood, mahogany, or maybe black walnut.

-Listen to you woman. The first thing you should know about wands, it's that you don't choose it, the wand choose you.

-Were talking about short wooden sticks. If I don't get to choose it, I could do with any branch of a tree.

-I doubt it. Although there are many usable woods to make wands out there, you still need to pair it with a good core. – Sheldon had guided them through a hallway; and many stores around them were already displaying wands, something that made Penny look at all the different kinds they were showing, some places were selling special treatment for wands, from polish and waxing, to had them adorned with different metal shapes or carvings, some others were selling special belts and cases to carry them without problem, some were very modern. – An even if you managed to make a good wand with your own resources, the compatibility wouldn't be optimal. Wands are almost sentient beings.

Sheldon then stopped in front of the door of the biggest store in the 'magic wand' area. He smiled fondly at the place before speaking. – You should have seen what this place looked like the first time I came here. – He reached for the knob and opened the door inviting her in. – From one of the shelves at the bottom of the store, my wand managed to fly out of its box and land at my feet. It was amazing.

Once inside a witch and a wizard greeted them with a smile. And both at the same time approached them. – Good evening, how can we help you?

-We want to buy a wand for my apprentice here, please. – The man and the woman looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

-We don't have that often around here. Let us begin. - Said the woman with a fake smile that Penny couldn't help but notice, and then walking towards the storage behind them that was stocked with long shelves filled with little rectangular boxes. The man next to her snapped his fingers and a metric tape started taking measures around her.

-So, where you looking for something special? – Said the man taking note of all the measures that the tape was giving him.

-I know we don't really have voice about this, but please bring some elm wands, I think those would be suitable. – The voice of the woman was heard from behind some shelves 'Got it'

-Sheldon, what is this for? – said Penny when the tape wrapped itself around her neck.

-It helps to find the correct length of the wand. Sometimes it has something to do with your height, but there are more variables.

-Wow, sir, you sure know a thing or two about wands, may I know the qualities of your wand?

-I don't usually display this information, but since I bought this one here, I'll tell you. Mine is a vine wand, with phoenix feather core, and it's an average length of twelve and a half inches.

-Quite a particular wand sir- said the witch coming back with some boxes and placing them all on a table on the other side of the room.

Penny watched the man and the woman share a nod before he also walked into their storage.

-Ok, first the elm wands. Please miss, can you stand there – she said pointing at a spot in the middle of the room, Penny smiled and walked to that place, the woman went to one of the boxes and gave her a wand.

-This is an elm wand with unicorn hair core eleven and a half inches, now wave it.

Penny did it, but nothing happened. To that wand followed a brand of elm wands with different length and cores, but none of them seemed useful. Sheldon sighed, being that brand of wood the one he would have wanted her to use. The woman then suggested a fir wand, but the fir wand was as useless. Many wands later the wizard appeared again bringing them two more wands.

-Ok, people here tend to buy dogwood wands; it's some kind of fashion or something because this is the last one we have. - He said handing Penny a box with a hazel wand, a note over the box had the specifications. – And this one is one that had been here for a long time, we have other brands of this wood, but I have the feeling that this might be good for you.

He opened the box of that wand and handed it to Penny while taking the other. Penny waved that wand but nothing happened… again. With a deep sigh she gave back the wand again and gestured the man to give her the other.

-Might as well try with that right now. It's easier to buy shoes.

The wizard gave her an apologetic smile before giving her the wand. This time the wand left a trail of sparkling golden bubbles behind it. And they kept sprouting from the wand's tip for a few seconds, popping later into purple smoke. By then both, Sheldon and the other wizard were smiling.

\- So, dogwood and dragon heartstring it is, 10 inches and three quarters. That'll be seven galleons please.

Sheldon paid for the wand and a few minutes later they were once again walking through the hallways. –Now, we only need to do a quick visit to the library and then we can go back, I'm not going to teach you potions yet.

-Why not? – said Penny rolling her wand in her fingers, watching how now and then sparkles would spring from the tip.

-Because, you can barely manage food. You need to improve that before I let you near any cauldron. – After saying that Sheldon moved his hand and took Penny's wand from his hand. – This shall not be used as a toy. – Penny showed him her tongue and snatched her wand again from his hands, before following him through the hallways in search for the many books they will need.

-Sheldon, was it only my imagination or the couple at the wand's store was looking at me… like a weird specimen?

-I don't know it could be either because it is unusual to see a witch buy a first wand at your age, or because many people in the community consider apprentices to be the "analphabet" of magic world.

-What?

-Never mind them Penny. Really, all wizards in ancient times learned magic through a special master, a family member or a recognized wizard (and even that was hard because magic was still seen as evil in muggle communities), and some of them became legends, while since magical education began there's only been a bunch of great wizards. Also it's not that unusual nowadays because of all the records that got lost a few years ago, mostly in Europe, but that should talk good about you, because you were chosen to study there. You have nothing to worry about thought; I am your teacher after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *The Pagemaster (Kirschnner /Contreras /Tiritilli [as written in the bibliographic information on the book in my hands]), I've had this book for years, I think it also have a movie of its own but I'm not sure, it was one of the very first books I read when I was a child. For me this book was a gate into new and exiting places, thus why I chose it to be the special door to the particular magic plaza that Sheldon and Penny visited, it has beautiful illustrations, and if you haven't I really recommend you to read it. It's a short and lovely story.
> 
> Also I say it before, I live in México, I've never been to California, so I don't really know any places there and I don't really need to get confused with locations and things that I certainly can't understand by looking at a satellite image provided by google maps, so, any locations mentioned in this story are just the ones displayed in the series, the books and maybe my crazy mind, no actual references to places in real life are being used.


	6. Worms and Spiders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penny is about to use her wand for the first time, she might want to be the perfect student, but her teacher knows she can be distracted easily...

**6\. - Worms and spiders.**

Once Sheldon managed to make her hold all their purchases, he guided them through the many hallways in the place to an interesting zone. Full of stores selling food and candies, she marveled at the different effects of some of them, seeing how some of the costumers often ended throwing fire after tasting some candies and how some others turned different colors of skin or started producing smoke through their ears.

To her surprise, Sheldon led her to sit at a table outside of a cozy shop, going inside and then returning with an ice cone for each.

-The ice cream here is one of the best in the world, there are many flavors, some of them I would rather not taste, but I'm sure you can come back and try all of them later, I would let you indulge yourself with candies but I'm afraid you over do it, and some of those candies are quite addicting.

-Are those combined with drugs or different potions?

-No, but the effects are overloading, and people start craving the hot feeling in their bodies after trying dragon breath candies, or the pleasurable feeling of the rainbow shots that keep turning your skin color while you roll it in your mouth, or the chilling sensation of the frost lollipops, that keep lowering your body's temperature every time you swirl it in your mouth until you stay frozen to the spot, of course 5 minutes later you can move again, it's one of the best things you can try on a heat wave or a very hot day.

Penny smiled at her friend, surprised at the way he was referring to the effects of the candies, as if remembering the flavor. She looked warily at her ice cream, a light aqua color that looked like mint or something like that, fearing the effects of the ice cream itself.

-Should I be worried about this one? – She said looking that Sheldon had an ice cream of the same flavor.

-No, I just thought you would like the feeling afterwards. Look. – He said standing up and licking his ice cream with a smile.

And then Penny thought she might be dreaming, or else Sheldon was growing taller. He pointed at his feet and then she saw it, Sheldon was floating about four or three inches over the floor, he leaned down, taking hold of the table and maneuvered himself to his chair. Not wasting another second she stood up and started licking her ice cream, feeling a chilling shiver run down her body to her feet, and then she was floating, a few inches more than Sheldon, but she supposed that it was logical since she was lighter in weight than him. When they made their way out (suspiciously through a train store selling most of the stuff she had seen Sheldon buy and that was a magic carbon copy to the one beside the library from which they entered) they walked back to the small plaza, and Penny felt grateful that at least with the added weight of the books she wasn't in danger of flying away with the wind as she feared with the sensation of floating still on her limbs.

In the ride back Sheldon told her to go, at the same hour the next day at his 'office', and once in her apartment she dived into her new books in a way she should have done when she was at high school.

Ooooo

The next day she left work in a rush, her bag full of her new books, and waited for Sheldon in front of the door to the office almost bouncing, changing her weight from one foot to the other impatient.

Sheldon appeared minutes later, smiling at her eagerness and walking them to the portal. Once inside Penny dropped her bag next to a table and pulled out her wand, marveling at the bubbles that still burst from the tip every now and then. Sheldon sighed and the approached her, waving his hand and making a whiteboard appear next to him with practiced ease, and she knew he probably did that every time, given his tendency to spend hours in front of his beloved boards.

-Today I have prepared a basic class, I'm going to explain you the basic concepts you must understand before making a spell and then you will practice. Is that ok?

She nodded and then took a note book out of her bag, remembering his previous remarks about taking notes for any upcoming test he will probably make.

-Very good. Now, a wand has always served to witches and wizards to focus their magic and aided with the special properties of the wood and core develop the results of their command into a spell. Wizards have to work hard to control their magic powers with out a wand, it requires a lot of training and complex studies to master it, but it's not impossible. However the tradition dictates that one should start with a wand. The very fist thing you need to learn is one of the most basic concepts in physics as well. Motion; movement, any way you call it … - from there Sheldon threw himself in what he knew better than many people in the world and proceed to make notes and some pictures explaining the concept.

Penny was starting to feel a headache, asking him to stop every now and then, or to repeat his words to get them right in her note book, trying to convince herself that she could get used to it, that she wanted more than anything to learn this and that Sheldon was the best person for the task.

After a while he stopped and Penny swirled her wrist trying to stop the sting of pain produced by her quick writing, she looked up at him, surprised to find a proud expression on his face.

-I encourage you to keep working like that; I rather like it when you are assertive and hard working. Like with your penny blossoms, a bit of enthusiasm makes wonders to your attitude. – She smiled, blushing a little at the genuine compliment. Sheldon then looked for something in his pocket, and gave her a pebble; the rounded edged stone was almost spherical and soft and fitted in her fist. – From now on this pebble will be used for practice, don't loose it.

He pulled another pebble from his pocket, an older one from the look of it and placed it over the table in front of her. – Now that you understand a little bit more what movement is about you must image the movement it self, the pebble is not going to move on its free will, the basic spell is _Locomotor,_ while advancing over this you can usually add the latin voice or the actual name of what you are moving,with your wand and the movement in your mind you must flick the wand and move the pebble. - He used his own wand to show her how, making his pebble move in a straight line from one edge to another on the table. - Now try it.

- _Locomotor-_ said Penny pointing her wand at the pebble and giving it a flick like Sheldon had done. She squealed in happiness when her pebble moved forward on the table.

-Nice. Now keep practicing in a straight line. – Sheldon then moved to the other side of the room while Penny kept making her pebble move over the table. A moment later Sheldon stopped her and placed something over the table; he unfolded a paper over it and showed her a tiny highway with curves and crossroads that a kid would happily use to play with his toy cars. – This is a bit more complicated; moving in a straight line is easy, this time, using the same spell and without moving from where you are standing make your pebble complete the circuit.

Again he used his own pebble and wand to show her how to do it, after the long talking he had done earlier Penny thought this was really going to be difficult, but her confidence was high, so she made the spell once again, willing the pebble to move around the small circuit on the table. At first she started moving her hand along with the pebble to keep it in track, feeling for a moment the way she felt when playing Halo with them and she kept moving the controller as if that would somehow make her character move faster on the screen. After some tries she could manage to complete the circuit without climbing the table to move the pebble.

-You're surprisingly good at this. Keep practicing and one day we can see whose pebble is faster. – She laughed at the challenge, taking her pebble tossing it to the air and catching it before it fell on the table.

-Now- he said going back to his lecturing pose- the next thing we are going to do is make it float. I was going to taught you that first, but you performed it well in London, so I suppose it's not going to be a problem for you now.

Knowing very well what spell he was talking about she repeated it, feeling this time how her wand canalized her power making the pebble levitate a few inches over the table, and to her relief only the pebble. She thought about the feeling she had had when doing the spell before and now, she had used the same strength, but somehow, the wand she had used then hadn't canalized the magic at all, her wand worked with her, like a partner. She started to understand how wands choose and complimented its owner.

The next thing Sheldon taught her had her working really hard to accomplish the task. Sheldon had showed her about mater and its properties, turning his pebble into a tiny stone man and then returning it to its original shape. So far she had managed to turn her pebble into a worm, only getting to the "S" shape by trying to force it to grow limbs, and she was playing with it frustrated, turning it back to its original rounded form, that being easier than getting it to form arms and legs.

After a while, Sheldon had started working on his own things, and Penny's worm still refused to look any more humanoid, so frustrated, she turned the worm into a pebble again and placed her stuff again inside her bag. She walked towards Sheldon ready to tell him that she was going back home, when she noticed what he was working on.

Over his desk was floating a weird dark cloud, dotted with purple spots and tiny little white points shinning faintly, he was observing closely, every now and then his fingers would move while he whispered something, a weird thing then would cause the cloud to look as if made of some very fine fabric, it's treads of many colors, and the spots and tiny dots would tie within the fabric without losing shape, color or position. It looked weird because although the tin treads of the fabric weren't transparent, they allowed the cloud to be watched thoroughly.

-Wow. What's that Moon Pie? - Sheldon jumped startled, and then looked at her.

-Something I've been trying to explain for a long time, but that still manages to escape my words and numbers to be understandable. Also you're not allowed to call me Moon Pie. – He said waving his hand over the cloud and making it disappear. - I see you are ready to leave. Let me get my things and then we can go.

-Great, I feared you were going to give me homework or something.

-I am. - Confirmed Sheldon checking the contents of his bag. – You may read the first chapter of both _A History of Magic_ and _Magic Theory_ for tomorrow. And you can keep practicing the motion spell and trying to make your worm grow some legs.

-You also thought it looked like a worm?

-With that size and shape it couldn't be a snake. Transfiguration is not as easy as basic spelling; you'll manage it in the end.

-You should really try to talk to other people like that. It makes it easier to be around you.

-Mmh, I'm not sure I want to make life easier for other people. Nobody does that for me.

Ooooo

Later that day, Penny was practicing her spells over her coffee table, still frustrated that she couldn't make the transfiguration work. She could hear the guys talking exited about something at the other end of the hall, even through her closed door and she wondered why they were being so loud.

Sighing she turned again her attention towards the pebble, making it round again and then trying something different. With the pebble still round she pronounced the spell and pulled a part of the pebble, then another, then another, then other two, until her pebble looked like a weird spider with five legs. She smiled happy, at least now she could go from a worm to a fat spider. Content with that result she took a random book from her table, opened it at random page and looking at the contents without really paying attention.

She was rolling her wand with her fingers, she loved the tiny bubbles and maybe her wand liked them as well because it hadn't stopped dropping them since they bought it; a weird word called her attention from the pages, and she read the phrase unconsciously, and then changing the pages again before closing the book.

She reached for the five legged pebble to get rid of its legs when she noticed it had disappeared. She looked for it, thinking it had fell and rolled awkwardly under her coach…, or the coffee table itself, or under her clothes, or inside her shoes, or into the Chinese food container, or… damn, she really needed to clean up a little. What would Sheldon say? What was she going to tell him? ' _Hello Sheldon, sorry to bother you, but I think I've lost my worm_ '? A loud scream made her look up, fearing the worst she walked towards the door and pressed her ear to it, and then footsteps, followed by the feared signature knock of no one but ...

-Penny… Penny… Penny…

-What is it? - She said trying to look like someone who hadn't just lost a pebble.

-A weird specimen had just entered our apartment. I was wondering, since you have helped with the task of getting rid of unwelcome spiders before, if you could please go and kill it.

She felt her blood drain from her face, and she had to make up something funny to tell him.

-Sure thing Moon Pie, as long as it's not one of Howard's perverted robots. – Sheldon looked at her with a scowl, and she was sure he was going to say something about the nickname, but she moved faster and walked into 4A.

The guys were standing over the couch, (a videogame consol and a pair of controllers explained the noise) looking at the floor afraid of the 'weird specimen'. She pointed towards the kitchen and the four of them hurried to stand there, Raj, Leonard and Howard from the living room and Sheldon from the door. She went on her knees, taking off her right shoe, looking under the couch and quickly finding her five legged pebble, ( _why couldn't it be a spider?)_ somehow it's tiny legs were moving, and the difference in size of the limbs make it walk in an awkward line and now it was stumping against one of the legs of the couch, ashamed she faked slapping something with her shoe, took the pebble in her hand and stood up quickly.

-Coast clear guys. - She said dropping her shoe and stepping over it again, feeling the tiny but hard legs of her pebble still moving in her hand.

-Thanks Penny. – Said Raj, while Leonard and Howard nodded towards her.

-You're welcome- she said turning around. Sheldon walked towards her and she panicked, walking out of the apartment quickly.

-Penny. - Too late, he had caught her! He knew! – Was it a very big spider? You seem distressed. – Ok, he didn't know, but she wasn't looking less guilty.

-Nop. – She said unable to hide her expression. He frowned and closed the door behind him, a faint glow running over the door.

-Was it a spider? Penny? - Sheldon demanded.

-I'm sorry. I don't know what happened, I swear the only thing I did was give it legs. – She said showing him the deformed pebble upside down on her hand, still moving its legs in the air.

He sighed, approached her and observed the moving pebble on her hand. He snapped his fingers and the pebble stopped moving.

-I recommend you to be more careful. This time it was confused as a spider, but next time they could notice. I also told you that your wand was not a toy, the only logical explanation to this happening is that you were playing with it, this should be reflected in your final score, but I'm going to let you go only with a strike, is that clear? – Penny nodded feeling guilty. – Seeing that you actually managed to modify the pebble and give it five limbs, however, gives you an extra point. Good job. And Penny, stop playing mindlessly with your wand.

She smiled and nodded again, turned around and walked back to her apartment; Sheldon then turned around and deactivated the sound filter of the door, once inside the apartment he started laughing, his friends watching him with lifted eyebrows.


	7. Shenanigans at the plaza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something strange happened after eating at that place...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Waves white flag* Sorry for the delay, and for the short notice to those that had to change from the crossover section, my computer is failing, and that gave me trouble when writing, also the connection tends to be slow and updating takes a while, so I needed to choose where to continue and this was the best choice. Thank you very much for understanding, and still follow. I've been having a real hard time, I tend to be easily depressed and that gives me writer block, but I managed to keep writing this time.
> 
> Now, this chapter is for Sheldon, I am not used to write a character like him, so he might be very OOC, but work with me I'll improve. I tend to work my stories slowly, even giving some signals to where this is heading doesn't mean its going to be quick and to the point, also when a plot starts building in my "plot notebook" the essence of the story can change, don't worry, the fun chapters are still coming, but this officially turns the story into a goal focused multi-chapter fic. Hope you enjoy reading, and please review, your suggestions are permanently welcome and in time you'll see them in use.

**7.- Shenanigans at the Plaza.**

Sheldon had been pleasantly surprised by Penny's advance ever since he had started teaching her, he had gone through most of the basic explanations of motion during the week and her advance in transfiguration was also improving, the incident with the five legged pebble had been rather amusing, It had taken him a few minutes to regain calmness once he went back to his apartment that night, mostly because his friends kept asking what had happened or what the blonde had said to have him laughing like that, when usually normal jokes never made him laugh. He had somehow made a believable story about the 'spider coming from Penny's apartment, and she being in hopes of never have to see the arachnid again, only to have to kill it somewhere else.

During Saturday morning he had prepared some of his things to make a little test to his apprentice, getting a bigger highway path wasn't difficult, he could have left it there, but somehow he felt the need to show her a bit more of what he could do, he had never been able to do so, even when he was at Durmstrang his classmates never really were around him because of his responsibilities with college. So he added some of his favorite enchanted toys, some lego constructions, a few collectible cars (his flying replica of the Delorean from 'Back to the future' was difficult to be left out), and some trail rails were placed upon the highway path and he printed a list of things for Penny to complete during the test.

It had taken her a full hour to complete the task, but it had been fun to watch, he kind of enjoyed seeing her concentrated expression while trying to remember the correct spell to make the pebble roll over the mat like a tiny car, take the curves in the path, float over obstacles, go through lego walls and fences, float over water puddles, and then transfigurate the little rock into a still unperfected humanoid and 'board' the train, or enter a tiny house, he had even laugh aloud when she improvised a little chat between the tiny man she had made, with the "lego citizens". It had been hard to keep a serious face, taking notes while checking her pronunciation or watching her struggle to remember the correct spell to make the pebble go through the material of the legos.

With a proud and happy smile he announced that she had passed and that the "motion" classes where done, he of course advised her to keep practicing, and a bit reluctantly he let her choose their next subject, either "effects of the light" or "states of the matter", she had chosen the first one, and then he had discussed with her the need to agree on a schedule during laundry, he also remembered that he needed urgently to teach her some household spells, but he had to admit that the place wasn't looking that bad now that she had some control over her powers.

Spending time with Penny had always been easy and enjoyable, and he had somehow come to regret the fact that he had to hide his wizard identity from his friends, knowing that she was once again some one he could truly trust made his feel relaxed around her. Lately Leonard, Howard and Raj had been avoiding him, not even Amy talked that much with him via skype, and he wasn't going to admit how badly their break up had affected their friendship, that leaving him craving company, something that Penny provided with the add of how much she was still surprised of all the things the magic world had to show her.

One day when she had arrived while he was using the 'unhygienic' bathrooms of the school he had found her looking around some of his books, grinning happily when suddenly she landed on a page with something that wasn't complicated for her anymore, he hadn't told her but most of the magic in the world came as a manipulation and understanding of basic physics, he had found it surprisingly easy when he had started, and not even at Brakebills had he found difficulties, being a recognized physicist already in the muggle world, solving equations, performing complicated spells with all the specifications he had previously worked on had been for him a way to feel fulfilled, embracing all the things he was capable to do to understand and modify the world around him like no one else. The knowledge that Penny was actually feeling something akin to what he felt that time, made him feel strange, he had tried to understand what it was, but the only word he was going to use to label it was "pride", there were a few more, but he refused to use those.

One day, when he was teaching her a bit more about particles in the matter, and the way the atoms could be separated individually (not in the atomic bomb kind of separation, that could have been troublesome), for her to be able to make the pebble capable of passing through different surfaces (wood, concrete, plastic…), she had told him that he was acting like a different person, that of course had him denying it and trying to make her change her mind, only to have her telling him that the changes were subtle, and that she wished he could tell the others about this if it make him so happy. He hadn't even had to explain why he couldn't tell them, falling into real admiration for the girl when she proved how serious she was actually taking her magic classes.

On Sunday watching Leonard preparing to go out made him feel a bit lonely, he knew they were working on a robot for a competition, but they hadn't even crossed a word apart from the usual communication during the activities of their usual schedule; he had been busy as well, not only the classes he was giving Penny had him occupied, he was also busy working some calculations to explain his current investigation in muggle terms. Knowing that the possibility of spending time with his friends that evening was little, he started thinking of possible things he could enjoy doing… Maybe he could invite Penny…

Feeling like it was better than spending the whole day alone he stood up and walked towards his neighbor's door, he still needed to know what kind of agreement they could fix for the upcoming week… maybe she would like going to the "Dungeon" again, maybe this time he could introduce her to new treats, she had to work later but that wasn't a problem. Leonard looked intrigued but he said nothing to stop him. He knocked on her door, the memory of Amy telling him about the OCD behavior behind his routine sometimes made him feel ashamed, but Penny didn't seem to mind it.

-Good morning Penny – said Sheldon politely, remembering previous encounters when she hadn't been in the mood to talk with him, and by the look in her face she probably wasn't.– I know you still have part of the day free and I was wondering if you would like to visit the "Dungeon" again. – He said making the quotation marks with his fingers, knowing that she almost never refused to go shopping. That brightened her mood a bit, making her smile brightly, at least now they could discuss how to solve the schedule problem and spend good time out.

-Sure, let me just get ready and then we can go…

-Go where? - asked Leonard stepping out of the apartment. Of course he should have known, his roommate never wasted an opportunity to speak with Penny, but he could go a whole week without talking to him…

-We were just going to visit a plaza. Last time we found a very good place to buy ice cream. – Said Sheldon turning around to look at his roommate. – You could come with us, but they only work with milky flavors. – His intention was to make him go to whatever thing he had planned to do with the others, but of course Leonard was not going to let it go.

-Well, Raj and Howard are waiting for me down stairs, we were actually going to look for a new place to eat, and we could all go together, I'm sure that's not the only thing they sell at that plaza, I can eat something different. – Penny managed to bring her smile back, which had turned into a weak one.

-Great! I'll call the girls and we can all have a day out together. It's been a while since the last time. – She turned around and winked at Sheldon before closing the door. He wondered for a moment why she hadn't declined, she knew they could to the "Dungeon" with the others, and what with the wink?

He turned around to look at Leonard, who had a confused look on his face.

-I know I shouldn't worry, but were you asking Penny on a date or something? There was an awkward atmosphere between you two. – What…? When…? He couldn't really state a question as to how Leonard had came up with "an awkward atmosphere", he hadn't feel anything different during the few seconds he had talked with Penny… And he wasn't going to deal right now with the strange feeling that the word "date" had brought to his stomach.

-I don't know what you're talking about Leonard. There was no awkward atmosphere there, just the same old interaction between friends, sometimes I think that you want to see more where there's little. – Leave it to Leonard to still be jealous of any male that approached Penny.

-Then why did you asked her to take you instead of me? I live with you, neither of us has to work today and it wouldn't be the first time you ask me to drive you somewhere. – Stating the obvious, as if he had been the one sharing plans for the weekend with him…

-You had plans with Raj and Howard, and I couldn't help but notice that I was not included in them… _again_. So in hopes to not bother you I came to Penny. – Leonard seemed guilty for a moment, and Sheldon looked away, at least now he remembered that not every thing had to do with romantic feelings in this world.

-Listen Sheldon, it was not our intention to make you feel lonely, we've been busy, and I'm sure you understand completely. Also since you said you were working on a big discovery, we thought that maybe it was better for us to let you work, you are always saying that we are a nuisance when ever we interrupt your work, you could have said something.

-You are right, I should have told you, Penny has been spending some time with me lately, and I kind of missed our social group interactions.

-So we're good?

-I suppose you are referring to the state of our friendship, so yes, we're good. – Penny shouted something about downstairs and five minutes, and Sheldon and Leonard headed to the stairs and started walking down.

-So, what have you and Penny been doing during this time?

-Not much, she entered to a new class and doesn't seem to want to fail it, so I've been explaining some of the basics about it to her.

-Great and how is she doing? Has she progressed?

-Compared to Penny's previous attempts at studying, she's actually doing very well.

* * *

Once in the plaza the group divided and boys and girls went to explore the different stores in the plaza, most of them where local business, not big labels or expensive products, they actually talked with each other like always. And Sheldon wondered if Penny somehow knew how he was feeling during the week, maybe that was why she hadn't stopped Leonard when he invited himself and the others to their day out.

Later they all went to eat together, luckily by having gone to that plaza before he knew the restaurants, and he didn't complain that much on the food selection, he wondered if Penny had some kind of physic power (a real one, not the sort she used to visit), maybe not a seer, she could be an empath and that's why she never had problems with understanding human emotions… He needed to make further research on this, and there was still the discussion about the schedule, maybe if he excused him self for a bit, he could find a way to communicate with her later…

Unknowing to him or even for Penny, part of the staff working at the Chinese restaurant where they had ordered were watching them. Usually Sheldon didn't need to check what he was eating when it came from muggle stores, he still liked quality and from the magic world he had learned some of the effects of different ingredients that magic restaurants tended to use…

* * *

Once back in the apartment the group was divided again, Amy and Bernadette followed Penny to chat before she had to leave for work, and hopefully to arrange her schedule. It could have been that easy, if normal things had happened after they entered the place.

The first thing he noticed was Leonard's swollen stomach, he was not very fit but that was exaggerating, and he was sure his friend hadn't ate that much. The second thing he saw almost made him laugh, it seemed like Howard's nose was growing and his head and body were starting to shrink gradually… Something was definitely happening, and he didn't need Raj's squeaky remark about their friend's sudden changes to notice how the man's limbs had turned rubber like and he couldn't hold himself up.

Penny's scream from the other side of the hall made the panic start to settle inside him. He opened the door to Penny's apartment in time to notice the orange color of his hand, inside he noticed Bernadette had grown hair all over her body and Amy's shortened limbs, Penny was still standing, her skin had also turned orange.

-Sheldon what happened? – she asked looking scared at her friends, he turned around and saw Leonard's body completely swollen over the couch, an unable to move Howard moving his tiny arms and legs and the puddle of Raj near the coffee table.

-I think we've been tricked, somebody added a 'special' ingredient to our food, maybe is not the best idea to have a Magic Shop Center underneath a muggle Plaza after all.- He looked around, thinking of what to do about it. – Bring Amy and Bernadette to my apartment, you might have to call your boss and say we have an emergency.

-Dmn…, I didn't want to miss work, I've just started. Ok, so, should I make them float there?

-Not really hard to do it, is it? – Said Sheldon hurrying back to his apartment, while Penny took out her wand to move Amy and Bernadette.

He moved quickly, going to his bedroom and taking out his "foldable potion kit" and returning to the kitchen.

-Sheldon, why aren't they talking? – asked Penny helping Howard into a lying position and placing a book next to Amy so she wouldn't roll around, her hands and feet seemed to be awkwardly attached to her body.

-Must be whatever they put in our food, it's obviously not for muggles, must have affected them like a drug and they're not aware of what's happening, I think that's why we only had our skin color changed. – He said busying him self by putting a cauldron over the fire of the stove and then searching the pages of a book, his fingers moving at high speed while he mumbled different things and ingredients flew into the cauldron.

-What are you preparing? – said Penny lightly pocking Raj over the carpet, and trying to avoid Leonard's swollen foot (secretly wondering why his clothes had grown with him?).

-Basic remedy, but I need to know what we ate in order to make the antidote. – A few pages later he made a triumphant sound and added a white liquid to the preparation.

-You really need to show me how to do that. – Said Penny watching blue sparks burst from the cauldron.

They gave each one of their friends a spoonful of the potion that Sheldon had prepared, they had to look for Bernadette's mouth, and find a way to make Raj's head look normal enough. Once all of them were getting back to their normal shape and size Sheldon turned the TV on and checked the news reports, and also the internet.

-This is weird Penny; one would expect that this kind of accident would be noticed by muggles, the government is not always quick to handle this, but it seems like our group was the only affected… - He was starting to panic, he even started scratching his arm in an unconscious attempt to get rid of the color.

-You think someone was watching us? Do you know who could have done it?

-I don't know, but that person probably recognized us from the last time… I'll send a report about this; maybe they'll send someone to check that place.

-How do you know it was the food?

-Penny, I don't really know what just happened, it could have been anything and it could have been worse than just this, somebody planned it, image what would have happened if the effects started to show earlier…They timed it - He was amazed that Penny could remain so calm after all of this, what if he hadn't been there? What if he hadn't found the specific ingredient for the potion?

-Well, we shouldn't go back to that plaza for a while then.

Sheldon could have thought of something clever to answer that, this wasn't a joke nor it was to be taken lightly, but for the first time he allowed Penny's sense of humor to get to him and that made him relax. Whatever it was, he might have freaked out had she not been there. He was starting to understand why some wizards in the past had relied so much in their apprentices. At least they had controlled the situation quickly; he knew the procedure that was to be followed from that point. He allowed Penny the light hug she gave him before he erased the memory of their friends, but he didn't told her about the implications of that attack in their student-teacher paradigm.


	8. Light specter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now things are back to normal, Sheldon and Penny have a "light" class. But, how many things can be affected by light and how?

**8\. - Light specter.**

Sheldon became a bit more careful after what had happened during their visit to the Plaza, he had somehow managed to go back and purchase some things that he spend an afternoon placing in her apartment, some mirrors, a few weird looking artifacts and protective spells. He also gave her a pocket mirror that she could keep in her purse and use outdoors, it had been a surprise one day when she was applying eyeliner on her eyes and suddenly the image in the mirror shifted and turned into Sheldon's face. She had cursed out loud and almost threw the mirror at the wall when that happened, but Sheldon soon started to explain, and told her about the magical properties of the mirror and how they could use it to communicate with each other, it had finally allowed them to work a schedule.

Leonard was spending some more time at CalTech to help building the robot they were still working on, and that gave them enough time to practice at the apartment, they still went to Sheldon's 'office' but that was when Penny had enough free time. The thing about light was a bit more difficult than movement, light also included colors and shadows and that meant that Sheldon had a lot of things to explain about the physics principles she was going to be manipulating.

It was certain day when she was already waiting to start using practical spells inside 4A that she almost had a heart attack, she was going through the pages of her notebook, looking at the underlined words that were the spells she was going to be using, when she heard Sheldon's voice.

-Penny, you're in my spot. – She jumped to her feet and turned around ready to apologize, but Sheldon was not in the room.

-Sheldon? – She asked wondering if the man was in the hallway or in his room, but his voice had sounded too clear to be that far.

-Yes? – She jumped once again; his voice had answered from behind her, making her shiver.

-This is not funny. Where are you? – She had started trembling and her heart was beating fast.

-Right here. – Said Sheldon's voice again, and this time she felt a hand closing around her wrist. She dropped her notebook and screamed. Automatically her hands started hitting the air, what ever was holding her wrist let her go, only she was not hitting the air, she could feel her hands landing on something, and when the coffee table moved a bit backwards she moved towards the door, a loud thump was heard and suddenly Sheldon's voice was heard again.

-Ouch! Don't panic woman! You almost managed to hurt me! – In front of her eyes Sheldon's body started to materialize, but in a weird way, as if he was slowly being colored from light colors to solid matter.

-You were invisible! – She said suddenly understanding.

-Your powers of observation are amazing. – Was that Sheldon being sarcastic? He stood up and brushed his trousers to get rid of the minimal dust that could be on them. – Yes, I was invisible; can you tell me how I did it?

-Ahm… - she was seriously still trying to get over the fact that her friend was invisible a moment ago, but then what she had been reading on her notebook came back to her mind. – Oh, yes, well…, you were not reflecting light, your… - she moved her hands trying to find the right word – well… your 'composing-little-things' allowed the light to go through you instead of bounce from you.

-A lame explanation, but I guess you understand the general idea. - He said this time sitting on his spot on the couch. Penny reached for her notebook and searched through the pages.

-Here, I have it written here, I just haven't memorized it. – Sheldon lifted an eyebrow and looked at her with an expression she had never seen before.

-Very well, we can go to the practical part of the class then.

Penny smiled and went to sit back down next him; the first thing they did was work on lighting the tip of her wand, basic and practical knowledge, that way she wouldn't have problems to find her way through her apartment if she had problems to pay her bill again.

On and off. Lumos and Nox. Then Sheldon made her gather as much light as possible on the wand and then made her threw it at the room (he had turned the other lights off), the result giving the entire apartment daylight for a few minutes. Apparently those were some of the very basic spells one could learn. But then there was also a thing about colors. The explanation of how the light worked was once again reviewed before Sheldon asked her to do some more complicated spells.

Using her wand she had to made her pebble shine, once she managed to do it, with the lights off she could made it fly around the room like a firefly, and she giggled at the thought of how much that could scare little kids on Halloween. Then things got complicated when Sheldon told her to try to change the color of the pebble, from a solid gray to white and then to black. Penny was concentrating on the changes she was supposed to do to the pebble, waved her wand and… a flash like one of a camera shot from her wand, leaving her blind for a few minutes.

To her surprise Sheldon was laughing, and should she be able to see him clearly maybe she would hit him again, so she blinked away the dots still clouding her view and promised to herself to learn a good spell to turn his spot's cushion into a rock, see if he would be that comfortable on it. She tried again, carefully this time, and she managed to make the color of the pebble change, not white enough, but Sheldon approved. Going to black with the same careful motion awarded her a 'thumbs up' from an amazed Sheldon.

After that he went looking for some objects, he used a glass full of water, a triangle-shaped crystal and a pan (she couldn't think of a use for that one but Sheldon was the teacher, so…). He showed her the way light moved through the crystal, making a rainbow like reflection on the table with a beam of light, he also told her how that worked in the liquid water and explained why the sky was blue. Getting things to look transparent was just something one had to work out first with physics. Of course the next thing she had to do was turn the pebble transparent (not invisible, Sheldon didn't want her to loose it), the she had to modify only some parts inside the pebble so that when she pointed her wand at it, it would look as if it had glitter in it (she only managed to made it look as a tiny disco-ball, but to her delight her teacher just told her to work it out as homework).

Sheldon finished that class with a visual demonstration, without his wand he worked a spell with his fingers and made them leave a trail of rainbow colored sparks whenever he moved them.

* * *

The next day when Penny arrived to CalTech Sheldon was not in his office, and having no key to the room where the portal to the 'other office' was she decided to wait for him there. When Sheldon finally arrived he seemed busy, checking some papers and mumbling things, he told her that he was going to need to work with something before they could start their class, and Penny felt a bit disappointed at that. Sheldon rolled his eyes and sighed before approaching her.

-Look, this is just for a while, as I'm sure you would like to try it yourself after yesterday, just let me work in peace until I finish this, ok?

Penny, nodded, not sure what he was referring to, but she wasn't going to complain if he made her fingers shine like his had done. Sheldon closed the door, looked for a moment through the window (knowing very well that no one could see them at this height) and then taking his wand out of his bag, waving it and hitting her on the head with it.

-What…? - She was going to ask if the spell was the right one, but then she couldn't see her own hands… Oh, so she was invisible now.

-Now, don't go too far from here and try not to scare people, I think an hour or so will be enough for me to finish this. – He said waving her out. – Remember you are invisible, not a ghost, you cannot walk through people… or walls. And if you speak people will hear you.

She giggled and hugged him. – I'll be back in a bit then Moon Pie. – She said and then turned around and walked out of the office. She knew exactly who she could visit without causing much trouble.

* * *

Raj was looking at Howard while his friend fixed some pieces of metal in the half built robot over his table, the most technical parts of this were really boring because Howard was the only one skilled enough to put them in place, still he needed to be handed some tools and that was the part that made it boring for him, because he had to be standing next to him while the "Master in Mechanics" was tinkering with the screwdriver.

Suddenly the door to the lab opened. They both looked at it, and Howard just lowered his gaze to his work again.

-Maybe the lock is getting loose, I'll fix it later. – Raj nodded and kept looking at his friend working, the notes and drawings they had made were in front of them, but he couldn't take them because Howard was using them as guide.

-I had a weird dream the other day. - Said Raj trying to keep his mind busy, Howard looked at him, but when he said nothing he took it as an invitation to continue. – It was a funny dream, there was this candy over the table, and that caused us to change, Leonard was huge as a whale! – He said laughing a little.

-As in an allergic reaction? Peanuts have that same effect on me.

-No, it wasn't like that, because we all changed in a different way. Me, I was all boneless, like made of rubber or something.

-Like in the Fantastic Four?

-No, not like that. I really couldn't control my body, but it was a dream after all, but it was cool.

-Yeah… Now that you mention it I had a similar dream, only in that one Bernadette was like a tiny Yeti, all fluffy and hairy…

-…and your nose was really big, not even your body could hold you up. – Finished Raj, still talking about his dream, but Howard looked at him worried for a moment. Raj saw movement from the corner of his eye, as if someone had walked next to them. Howard was back placing a new metal plaque.

A few papers flew out of Howard's table right behind him. – I think I saw something move back there… - He paled when he felt a hand land over his arm.

-What is it Raj? Seriously, if you want you can go back to you office, I can work this on my own. – Raj didn't have to hear him twice; he stepped back and then hurried out of the lab leaving Howard alone.

Howard sighed; he shook his head and returned to work, thinking of the weird ideas that his friend had used to leave him working alone. Some cylinders started rolling over another table, and when they finally hit the floor he turned around.

-Maybe this is what Raj saw, the string holding them must have broke and he just saw it snap. – He said placing the cylinders on the table and looking for the pack where the cylinders were attached in group by an elastic string. He started to place them again in the pack, and when he took the string he noticed that it wasn't broken…

-Here, you forgot this one. – Said a voice next to him, he turned around just to see another cylinder floating in the air, and then the world turned black.

Penny giggled, she hadn't expected Howard to faint, but it had been funny up until then. A moment later footsteps approached the lab, and she walked towards the door in time to see Leonard walk in.

-Howard? Raj? - He said stepping inside. He looked again outside the door and then walked towards the half built robot, a turn of his head made him notice Howard on the floor. - Howard! What the…? – Leonard approached his friend and tried to make him react. The door to the lab slammed shut, startling him, feeling a bit nervous he tried to wake his friend up again.

* * *

When she finally went back to Sheldon's office, sometime later (she had also visited Winkle and Kripke), she found the other three already there talking with Sheldon.

-…I'm telling you, there must be a spirit or a poltergeist. I heard some students were playing with the 'ouija'; they must have let something out.

-… that voice… it was so… spooky, it gave me the chills. I don't know if I should go back to the lab.

-Maybe it was the wind. – said Leonard. – There are any reasonable explanations to this kind of things.

-You should have felt that hand. It was awfully cold!

-Gentlemen. I thought you were here to tell me something important, not to babble about inexistent spirits, all those things had proved to be just nonsense. Now, if you don't mind, I will like to finish my job, and I don't need all this jibber jabber distracting me. You should listen to Leonard, there IS a reasonable explanation, or maybe it was just a suggestive effect, maybe you should have lighter meals for dinner in order to not have weird dreams.

-Ok then. We'll leave, but you are going to believe us when something happens to you. – Said Howard walking out of the office, followed by Raj and Leonard, who closed the door behind him.

A few seconds passed and then Penny's laughter was heard. – I told you not to scare people. – Said Sheldon seemingly holding his own laughter, with his hands over his stomach.

-Hahaha… I couldn't help it. … They make it so easy! … - finally Sheldon started to laugh with her, some minutes later wiping tears from her eyes Penny looked at Sheldon. – Have you finished yet?

-Yes, I have… - he said chuckling. He also wiped his eyes. – Come here, I'm going to take off the disillusionment charm, and then we can leave. You still have to learn some 'fire' and 'color' spells to complete this topic.

She stood in front of him, but since he couldn't see her she reached out and took his hand in hers, a subtle blush covered Sheldon's cheeks, but she didn't thought much of that, he cleared his throat and made the counter spell, making her visible again.

-Much better. –He said caressing her cheek and smiling before turning around to get his things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The light manipulation spell that Sheldon did with his fingers is called Ugarte’s Prismatic Spray (or that’s my translation of the name [Espray Prismático de Ugarte] ), it is mentioned in “The Magicians” book. I just wanted to mention it since this story is both moving in the Harry Potter’s and The Magician’s universes. (Also to recommend you once again, if you hadn’t, to read Lev Grossman’s book, it’s quite good).
> 
> Also science facts may not be correct, I'm no scientist, those facts are just what I know, errors can happen.


	9. Hidden skills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that things like where and when to take a class are more or less arranged there are still some things that Sheldon doesn't know about Penny.

**9.- Hidden skills.**

Once back at "the classroom" as Penny was now referring to Sheldon's hidden office, they immediately started with the class. Penny was still talking about how it had felt to be invisible, but then Sheldon took out a pan from his bag, and she couldn't help but wonder why he was carrying something like that.

-We didn't have chance to use this last time, but there is something to light that you need to learn and from that I will be able to move to the next topic.

-And what is it? - She said eyeing the pan and trying to see if it had any magical property.

-Well, the pan is actually only for safety purposes, I've noticed that if you focus on an object the probabilities of you accidentally hitting other object are less. Now, look at this. – Sheldon waved his wand and a fire flame appeared over the pan.

-We're going to work with fire. - Said Penny, it wasn't a question, and Sheldon nodded.

-Fire is a reaction, usually one need to have combustible or fuel, heat and oxygen to lit one. The fire also has the property of producing light, and depending on the material burning it could have different colors… - Sheldon then explained how it was possible for him to lit fire without a visible combustible, mentioning some of the things floating in the air around them, he taught her how to control the quantity and force of the fire, and showed her how to ignite a more classic fire, how to make one to lit candles, make it float, and even how to make one under the water (that was something completely amazing).

But watch Sheldon made all those things was one thing, making it work was something completely different. And she totally understood why he made a protective spell over his things before allowing her to start. Just like the first time she tried a specific light spell, her first three attempts at igniting a little fire on the pan exploded, literally, in her face, surrounding her with smoke. She kept trying, jumping every time her wand started to produce sparks, crouching down if the pan suddenly jumped from its place on the table.

She finally managed the correct flick, trying to steady her hand, with her eyes closed and her head turned to the side and it was Sheldon's clapping what made her look at the tiny flame on the pan. She screamed and jumped with happiness, making her wand produce more sparks that made her run towards Sheldon.

Once she got over her nerves she repeated the spell, and proceeded with the others. The fire under the water was really difficult to do, and Sheldon would have let her try it at home, but probably feared the building was going to turn into ashes if he did, so he told her that she could practice it only in that place.

By the end of the day he made her show him all the light spells they had seen, and Penny felt proud of herself when she finally managed to create "glitter" inside the pebble. She was enjoying very much her classes.

-Sheldon, when are we going to work with potions?

-I was actually going to talk with you about it. You cooking skills are very poor and some potions require to be heated for a while, there are some spells you could learn to stay alert, and many of them would actually help you keep your apartment in a cleaner state.

-But…

-There's no but, I was actually going to schedule a day to teach you those. When would you like to do it? – Penny thought of the state of her apartment, she knew Sheldon's schedule for things, and if he needed a day then it was going to be a long one.

-I made plans with Amy and Bernadette to go to a fair, some itinerant fair that goes from park to park like the circus, we're going on Sunday, so maybe it could be on Saturday, that way we can even do laundry.

-Very well. Saturday it is.

* * *

When the day finally arrived Sheldon went to 4B and knocked on Penny's door.

 _Knock, knock, knock …_ Penny

 _Knock, knock, knock …_ Penny

 _Knock, knock, knock …_ Penny

It was already 11 am so there was no problem of getting punched, to his surprise Penny seemed to have woken up early, because he saw the shadow of her feet under the door. Well, at least Leonard had gone again to CalTech to help Howard and Raj make the last check ups for their robot.

Penny opened the door with a smile, she was wearing a pointy hat and a large purple tunic, and underneath it she was wearing a short burgundy dress and a pair of black boots.

-And? – She said opening the tunic a bit and turning around. - What do you think? Do I look like a witch?

-If you are planning an early Halloween party then yes, you do. Witches and wizards this days dress differently, muggles started noticing our presence so we ended up starting to wear clothes like them, in my case I didn't have to make lots of changes. Dressed like that even if you had intended to go to a magic community, people would have thought you were going to a costume party. Your usual clothes will do.

-Uhm… - said Penny pouting and closing the door. – I was hopping to dress like this more than once, see what the girls would think, but now it just seems like a waste of money.

-If it makes you happy we both can dress in similar robes for Halloween. – Said Sheldon trying to cheer her up.

-Thanks sweetie that would be great.

-We could go to "The Dungeon" and celebrate with more wizards, the treats there are the best.

-That's even better, now I can wait for Halloween to arrive.

-Penny is traditional to offer someone who has just arrived to you place a beverage.

-Right, would you like something to drink? – She said walking to the kitchen.

-No thank you, I'm not thirsty.

-Then why… forget it, I'll make sure to remember that rule next time I have any guests.

Sheldon smiled pleased, and then looked around the apartment taking in the usual messy aspect of the place.

-I see you still have the tendency to live in chaos, how about we start putting all this things to their right place? – Penny resisted the urge to tell him it wasn't that bad and be angry, the whole purpose of today was to learn to clean with minimal effort (making magic was not difficult).

-What do you think about the kitchen? – She said pointing at the pile of dirty dishes and glasses.

-Good choice. – Said Sheldon walking towards the kitchen and pulling the sleeves of his t-shirt up to his elbows. He looked in his pocket and took out a little plastic bag, from inside it he took a pair of rubber gloves and put them on, he carefully took a pair of plates and cups from the sink and placed them in the table, gesturing to Penny to come close.

-As you know I am very detailed when it comes to clean something, I tend to categorize and find the best way to get rid of the waste on the dishes, take away makes it easier at times, because I don't have to worry about cleaning after, but you can never know, and if we are going to work with potions some ingredients will prove to be difficult to get rid of. Any way, for starters and knowing very well that you are not going to use my method I'll show you the basic spells, we can work on the special ones later. – He then took his wand waved it and pronounced a spell over a plate and a cup, a quick layer of foam appeared on the edges and started moving inwards, when the foam closed the circuit it disappeared, leaving the plate and the cup clean. Sheldon explained where the remnant waste had gone and why there was no need to use water.

Penny nodded after his demonstration, and shook her hands before using her wand over the other pair. She shouted a triumphant word afterwards, and Sheldon just rolled his eyes. He then taught her how to make the sponge wash in a specific motion over her cooking set, taking kitchen oil and sauce from inside them. The he explained one to dust and clean surfaces.

-Can we do the broom thing? – Asked Penny exited. – You know like in that Mickey Mouse film, where he made the broom brush by itself.

-Penny, if you really saw Fantasia, then you know that it's not a good idea, specially because you will probably do what Mickey did and let it go all over the building, no, I'm teaching you some of the most basic spells to keep the house clean, it doesn't mean you are going to completely stop doing it, and brushing the floor is not very difficult. On the other hand what should worry you would be to take care of the clothes you throw everywhere. There's a way to sort clean clothes from dirty clothes, but since there's no possible way to know that with you, maybe you can make them float into the laundry basket.

-That's a good idea! How about you teach me to charm the laundry basket so that it moves when I'm about to throw something in it? – Sheldon looked at her with narrowed eyes. – What?

-No. Now, let's go to your bedroom, the spell to make the bed it's tricky, and I need to show you how to fold your clean clothes, after that you can float them to their place. How good do you think you'll be hanging your blouses in your closet?

-With the wand? I don't know my aim is not really that good.

-You never said that when playing Halo, who knows, you could even improve.

-You saw what happened with the fire the other day; I'm not feeling confident about it since then.

Sheldon helped Penny with lots of household spells, even teaching her some very useful spells to clean the bathroom. To Penny's bad luck he didn't taught her to remove stains, or repair objects (he said that was for another day), but she was able to clean a good part of her apartment only with her wand's aid before the sacred hour of Laundry night came.

Sheldon had started talking about the different and many benefits of cleaning constantly, and recommending her to give it a rest every once in a while to do it herself, saying that if one didn't know how to make it's own cleaning the spells would gradually stop working, personal knowledge and practical abilities where indispensable in good working magic.

Penny was actually talking with him, making some jokes about how she thought some spells would react if she ever forgot how to clean some things, they were walking down the stairs, with their laundry baskets in arms, when they almost crash against Leonard, Raj and Howard, who where running excitedly up the stairs.

-Oh, hello guy! Why are you so happy?

-I know happiness tend to make people want to rush when there's good news, but stairs have a high rate no accidents when running, so you should probably slow down a bit for your own safety.

-Yeah… - said Howard still smiling, but going over Sheldon's comment. – Listen, we've finished our robot, and we're finally ready to submit our entrance to the contest, also, we're giving a demonstration tomorrow and wanted to invite you.

-Our robot is going to smash the other competitors; it's like Hulk, unstoppable! – Said Raj grinning.

-Would you be able to come? – Said Leonard looking at Penny.

-I don't know, maybe, I'm going with Amy and Bernadette to a fair, but maybe if it's not too late or after we arrive back we could go.

-I'll go. – Said Sheldon, with a smile. – I might have not participated in the building or design of the robot, but I wouldn't loose a good demonstration.

-Ok, then. I'll send you a text with the hour of the demonstration tomorrow Penny. – Said Howard. – And maybe you can find some old stuff to destroy with it Sheldon. – With that the three men moved to the side and allowed Penny and Sheldon to continue their way downstairs.

-I have the feeling that something wrong is going to happen tomorrow. – Said Penny in a low voice. Sheldon looked at her with worry, any other day he would have tried to calm her down by listing the safety rules that his friends would take to ensure a safe demonstration but since the day he had perceived a glimpse of divination abilities in her (in that moment only like and empath) he took that as an alert.

-I would like to join you tomorrow at the fair, that way we can all arrive together for the demonstration.

-Sure. – Said Penny turning to see him when they finally arrived to the laundry room.

* * *

The next day Sheldon almost retracted from the idea of going to the fair, the girls tried to make him eat hot dogs from a cart in the street, nothing there could be hygienic enough to be edible. Then there were those monstrous mechanic games, god only knew the horde of germs living on them. So he watched from the distance, seeing the girls scream over the machines and eat an unhealthy quantity of sugar.

Then they played on those tricked games, to win a plushy doll, a bear and other useless toys that girls liked, they didn't do anything, no movement, no sounds, not even the friction car that Bernadette gifted him was good enough. Being polite anyway he accepted it, and helped them carry the toys. He wasn't going to try his 'luck' at anything, so it was better to just enjoy the company and avoid making any of them angry. Penny tended to threat him with violence, up until then she had never punched him but he wasn't going to risk it, Bernadette was tiny, but he had saw her angry and knew that her tongue was poisonous, and Amy made cruel statements when she was angry or upset, and since their break up he wouldn't want her to feel upset at all.

It was getting late when Howard sent Penny the message of the time and place of the demonstration, and he was already tired of walking around the fair.

-Let's go see the psychic and then we can go. - Said Bernadette, with her squeaky voice.

Amy and Penny turned around to see him with worry.

-As long as you don't make me sit in front of that fraud I have nothing against it.

The three women smiled and hurried towards the part where a psychic was making inaccurate lectures to different people.

When finally it was the turn for the girls to sit at the table with the crystal ball (more like an old and blurry hard plastic ball from the look of it), Sheldon stood standing in a corner of the room. Then entered the woman, wearing a colorful gipsy attire, tingling with every step she took. Sheldon huffed, thinking that the clothes were more practical for a Belly Dance performance than for a psychic.

-Hello dears, welcome to Shaskary's psychic booth, tell me what you want to know and I'll use my powers to guide you through the right path to your happiness.

Even the speech was dull. Anyway, he was just waiting for them, if she wanted or not to believe in this woman it was their problem, he could always consult Mewmaw for a more accurate divination.

Amy asked first, inquiring about possible future romantic life, "Shaskary" waved her hands over the crystal ball, making some chant noises and then 'predicted' a tall, handsome and loving man in her future that would make her very happy. He contained his urge to make a few observations, and took a deep breath to stay calm.

Bernadette asked about her professional future, the woman did the same exaggerated movements and 'predicted' a promotion in her work a bit after the birth of her first child, to which Penny and Amy cheered.

Then it was Penny's turn, she leaned forward to the table, without taking her eyes from the fake crystal ball on the table, and asked about her big break in the show business. The woman started moving her hands dramatically this time over the ball, making the table sway a little. Sheldon was about to walk out of the booth and wait for them outside when the woman declared 'soon' as her prediction, but then… Penny spoke.

\- _*At all hallows eve night….*_ \- her voice was merely a whisper and her eyes were still focused on the ball, Sheldon stopped dead in his track, feeling a shiver run up his spine. - _*…the secret will be discovered… dangerous night… leads a group to different paths…*_

-Penny are you alright? – asked Bernadette waving a hand in front of her. Penny snapped out of whatever trance she was in and tried to cover it up.

-Did I scare you? – She said smiling. – I've been improving my acting skills; I know Shaskary's prediction is right! I'm going to be a star! – The three women (Shaskary included) looked at each other before starting to laugh at Penny's "joke".

Now he had other things to talk about with Penny, Sheldon looked at the sunset orange sky, wondering what had happened, before shaking his head, he would have to explain this other day. He walked again towards the exit, shifting the plushy bear in his arms.

-Time to go, Amy, Penny, Bernadette. If we don't leave now the guys will start the demonstration without us.


	10. Unexpected visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Penny had a strange momento at the fair, what is Sheldon going to do with Penny's new revelation, maybe there is someone that cna help him with it

**10\. - Unexpected visit.**

The girls squealed in surprise when a burst of yellow sparkles started to come out of the old printer on the floor, where the saw started cutting into the metallic parts inside the machine, the robot, controlled by Raj, looked great, it was 25 inch tall an it was painted in purple blue and yellow, it had attached a powerful saw, a fire thrower and it had a compartment full of a sticky substance that was able to slow down any kind of wheels and it was inflammable, the guys had actually made a good fighting robot and by the way it was making little pieces out of the printer it could have a good advantage in battle.

Once they had finally left the fair behind and where on Penny's car back to the apartment, the girls had started making comments about the predictions made a few minutes ago, Bernadette expressed her sadness at knowing that there were some years to come before her promotion at job, since she wasn't willing to have a child in the near future (something that Sheldon doubted a bit, because Howard still had the tendency to make inappropriate comments about their sexual lives, his promiscuity might get them to parenthood sooner than Bernadette expected).

Amy was daydreaming about her possible romantic affair with some random man, and saying out loud what she would do once she found him (Sheldon believed that Amy's intention was to make him feel jealous, or guilty, but he really wished that she could find someone that could make her that happy). The only one not making a big fuss about her prediction was Penny, it was a surprise given her love for such unwarranted 'seers', he knew about the divination branch and the accuracy of some predictions, but it had been proved that sometimes the result could be changed and that expecting something to go as planned had more chances to change in a matter of minutes than anything.

He was still looking at her warily, there was something about the way she had 'acted' after that thief (yes, no one could make a prediction out of a single word) had told her that her big break into the lime lights was coming ' _soon_ ', and maybe she had noticed that it had been strange, because she was also trying to avoid the whole topic.

Once they had all gathered at the roof to see the robot demonstration, the group had separated a bit, the guys showing off all the things and changes they had done to the machine, Sheldon had made some comments about safety and possible disadvantages to the model, but at the end he was actually very happy with the result, Amy, Bernadette and Penny were watching, saying that they couldn't really understand why they wasted time doing those things, but at the end the excuse to make them scream (as in Howard's words) had worked.

After the demonstration while Howard checked that the robot had no important damage in itself, Leonard, and Raj started to clean up, while Amy ran down the stairs to get a trash bag; Sheldon approached Penny and stood beside her, not wanting to lean against the wall where she was.

-Penny, please explain what happened at that 'Shaskary's' booth. – He saw her flinch a little, but then she turned to look at him with her usual smile.

-She made some predictions about our future, looking into her crystal ball and everything, I don't know why you of all people want to know what happened there, you don't believe in it anyway.

-Penny – he said looking around to see that the others where still busy -, you know now that I had a façade to stick to, that doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two about those techniques, within the wizard's world there are true seers that can make real predictions, the fraudulent ones are those who work in the muggle world.

Penny looked at him, her expression changing from her cheerful smile to a scared one.

-Then… - she looked once again back to where the others where almost done with the cleaning – then I don't know what happened… Should I worry?

Sheldon shook his head, thinking about what he could do with this new discovery. Penny had the ability to develop divination skills, as much as he wanted to do something about it, he had never been fond of that practice and had never really been good at it when he tried, there was only one person in the world who could help him with this (well, not the only one, but the one he trusted more).

-We should get going. – Said Penny snapping him out of his thoughts with a hand on his shoulder, the rest of the group had already walked downstairs, leaving them alone in the roof. He nodded and followed her.

* * *

Once back in the apartment Howard and Leonard placed the robot in a safe spot, the girls entered behind them and Raj hurried downstairs to dispose of the now useless printer. Amy closed the door behind her.

-Have you noticed that Sheldon and Penny had been spending more time together than usual?

Howard and Leonard shared a glance, and Bernadette walked towards the couch to sit down.

-I mean, I know they're friends and I've always know they are very close, but when we were all together they stayed with the group, now they are just… by themselves.

-It's true, - said Leonard crossing his arms – they had been seeing each other more than usual.

-Hey, – chuckled Howard – you are not suggesting that they might be more than friends now, are you? Because we all know that there's no way that Sheldon and Penny would… ever.

-I don't know Howie – said Bernadette touching her hair -, you know what people say about opposites, and they couldn't be more different from each other, it's actually surprising that they both get along.

-I wish I knew what the thing that they had in common is; there must be something other than just us being their friends.

The group nodded trying to think of something that could explain why the physicist and the blonde had no trouble getting along. Their thoughts were interrupted when Sheldon pushed the door open, with Penny right next to him.

-…Mewmaw used to do something with the tea… - He was explaining, but by the look on everyone faces, he stopped. – What? I was just trying to tell Penny how my Mewmaw usually prepared Christmas treats when I was a kid, she's a wonderful cook and if Penny pretends to do something good for the holidays this year she should learn something from an expert.

* * *

The following morning Sheldon knocked on Penny's door at exactly 11 am. She stood up from her bed a bit annoyed by the interruption of one of her rare free Mondays. Still Sheldon was someone that wasn't going to give up just because she didn't opened at the moment, so she patiently waited until he had finished his second knocking round to open the door.

-Good morning Sheldon, what is it? – She asked leaning against the wall feeling still a bit sleepy.

-Good morning Penny. I came here because I wanted you to come with me.

-Oh no… you need me to drive you again. Where to now? – She said rubbing her eyes and walking towards the kitchen to prepare coffee.

-No, don't worry Penny. You wouldn't need to drive anywhere; in fact I think it's going to be a quick journey. You should finish your morning ablutions and when you finish your coffee we can leave.

She looked at him with her eyes still half closed. – If I weren't so sleepy right now I would ask again, but I think I can wait to know where we are going until I am fully awake.

-Go, take your time. I'll make you coffee. – Sheldon's statement worried her a bit, not because she wasn't used to Sheldon making hot beverages every now and then, he probably knew where every one had their personal coffee maker and tea bags, her kitchen was actually cleaner than usual thanks to the handy spells he had taught her, so she wasn't fearing a lecture on that, no, what worried her was that he wasn't hurrying her to be ready, that he was actually willing to wait until she had finished, he usually had a plan for every minute of every day, specially when going somewhere, what kind of thing or place where they going to that required him to forget a schedule? Or maybe the schedule was so special that he wanted her in the road before she could say no!

She decided to wait, by looking at him she supposed it had to be a good place, because he was actually happy, maybe she was just being dramatic and Sheldon had just planed a day at the local train expo or something.

A few minutes later freshly showered and dressed she walked into the kitchen to find Sheldon sipping a cup of tea and a steamy cup with coffee waiting for her. She thanked him and took the warm and delicious drink in her hands. Once she finally was feeling a bit more ready for the day she remembered.

-Sheldon, is Monday, shouldn't you be working?

-Yes, I should. – He said sipping again his tea. – But I asked for the day off, somehow I never find troubles to get free time at work. – Penny nodded feeling as if she had to tell him why they did that.

-So, where are we going?

-Oh, I would like it to be a surprise, just wait and see – he said emptying his cup - ,I was going to offer you breakfast, but the best we could do is just go.

Penny finished her coffee and stood up, looking for her keys and her purse, and a jacket for later. – I'm ready, let's go. – She said opening the door.

Sheldon shook his head, he approached her and closed the door, taking her hand and standing next to her, and then she knew why they she didn't have to drive. She was sure that the weird sensation in her stomach was because she was never going to get used to travel like this and had nothing to do with Sheldon's hand on her waist, not at all.

Once the pulling sensation was over the smell of warm cookies reached her, Sheldon had let go of her almost the instant their feet had touched solid ground, and she had to stabilize herself before taking in her surroundings.

They were in a house, the walls were painted in a light blue and most of the furniture looked old, there was a carpet at her feet, and an old television at her right, the room was divided by an arch and led to a dinning room where there was also a practical kitchen from where the smell of cookies came from. Next to the round table was Sheldon, hugging a tiny old lady with white hair and a happy expression on her wrinkled but nice face. She was wearing a green dress and an apron, her long hair was held in a braid at her back, Penny glanced out to the window, feeling the change in temperature.

-Hello Mewmaw. – said Sheldon stepping back from the embrace he had with the lady.

-It's good to see you Moon Pie. – She said and suddenly Penny understood why Sheldon always said that Mewmaw was the only one who could call him Moon Pie, the woman said the name in such a loving way that she felt envy of her friend. – And hello to you two Penny.

Penny widened her eyes in surprise, walking towards Sheldon's grandmother and extending her hand, only to be pulled in for a hug as well. –Hello Mrs. Copper, Sheldon has told me lots of things about you.

-Oh, you can call me Mewmaw as well, come on, the cookies are ready, if we wait more they'll be cold later, let's have breakfast.

Penny looked at Sheldon wanting to ask him why they were at Texas but he was busy helping. Mewmaw served them hot chocolate, a plate with scrambled eggs and some beans and of course some cookies, she told Sheldon how she had been, what she knew about his brother and sister, and how many she had made with the last harvesting she did of her personal garden.

-…You know I don't swim in money or galleons, what you send helps me, and also your Pawpaw's pension, but the day by day living gets harder, and it actually make me happy to be able to share at least some of my veggies with the neighbors.

-Speaking of neighbors. – Said Sheldon looking at Penny. – You know who she is, and I'm sure you know why we are here, but…

-Oh, yes, I was hoping to meet you sooner Penny. – Said the old lady turning around to face her, leaving Sheldon mid sentence, but somehow she knew that he was not going to complain with her. Not for the first time Penny wondered if Sheldon had told her that they were going to visit, or something like that, and just how much and what kind of things he had told about her in his letters. – Just a few weeks ago Sheldon told me that you were becoming his apprentice; it's weird that after years of being friends he had just discovered you were a witch, just like with muggles he doesn't have many friends in the magic world, and it's actually fortunate that you were one without either of you knowing the truth.

-It's been great Mewmaw, I have learned so much with him in this short time, and I kind of feel like I'm getting to know the real Sheldon now.

-Secrets must be kept some times, I know my grandson is very careful, he's so brilliant that I still don't know why he hasn't been honored with more titles, he's made some incredible discoveries and advances, he should have a 1st class decree on Merlin's Order (he has a 3rd), or at least a Great Wizard title, but no, he's happy with just being in the International Wizard's Confederation, but lets not talk about that or he will feel uncomfortable, straight to the point, why are you here today Penny?

Penny opened her mouth, she really didn't know why they were at Mewmaw's house, and Sheldon had just entered her apartment two hours ago and had explained nothing about their visit there.

-I was about to tell you why Mewmaw; as you know Penny's classes had proven her to be a very talented witch, by allowing her the opportunity to explore and work with her innate magic powers has probably unleashed more than that. Lately I've been noticing some interesting skills in her and I thought that the best thing I could do was to bring her with you, because you know I can't help her with it.

-Interesting skills? – Asked Penny looking at Sheldon.

-You think she might be a Seer? What kind of things have you seen Moon Pie? – asked Mewmaw ignoring Penny's question, the old lady stood up and started looking at her from different angles, the blonde felt almost like with the measure tape in the wand store. - I will probably need some time to confirm your suspicions Sheldon, in the mean time, - she said looking at Sheldon with a gentle smile – could you go to the store and get me some ingredients I need to prepare lunch? Penny will be ready by the moment you come back. – Sheldon smiled and stood up quickly.

-Yes, of course, just tell me what you need. – He said, Mewmaw took a list out of her apron pockets and gave it to Sheldon.

-The ones without a check mark. – She said and turned again to her apron, pulling some coins from it.

-No, don't give me any money, I'll pay for it. – He said walking out of the house, saying that he would come back soon.

Penny then was left alone with Mewmaw, she felt a bit out of place but, the lady was looking at her with a smile.

-Such a gentleman he is, isn't he? Now, look at me dear. – said Mewmaw sitting next to her. – My grandson has a brilliant mind, and he's very talented in almost everything he does. It's not the first time he spots true talent, I am a Seer, been my whole life, and I can sense it in you as well. Unfortunately I can't teach you, both of you live too far away for it to be possible, but I'm going to do something for you.

-Really? But I really don't know what Sheldon is talking about, I'm clumsy and I still have trouble with some spells, I don't know what those 'interesting skills' could be at all. – Mewmaw had walked out of the room and came back holding a couple of books.

-You don't have to explain yourself dear, Sheldon can see over your clumsiness, and he's hardly ever wrong, and you can't fool me. – She handed Penny one of the books. – This, is my personal notebook about divination, when I went to school the books about this topic were rare and expensive, so I had to make my own notes, I'm sure it will help you train yourself, some of them you can do without a wand, some others require previous knowledge about potions, - Penny looked through the pages of the hand written notebook in her hands, noting that there were sections between techniques requiring the use of the wand, and potions, some pages had beautiful illustrations and she had no trouble understanding the neat calligraphy of the woman – if you ever have doubts you can tell Sheldon to contact me, he knows how to do it without coming here or send a letter. And – this time Mewmaw gave her a little velvet bag – these are my cards, Missy gave me a new one a few months ago so you can keep this, it's reliable and it will help you learn, take this with you as a gift, please.

-I… Thank you very much, I promise I'll do my best to learn. I always wondered how psychics did their work and … This is amazing, thank you very much.

-Oh, it's nothing dear. But if you want to give me something in exchange, I would love to have great grand children… - Both ladies laughed, but Penny wasn't really sure that it was a joke.

Sheldon came back a few minutes later, placing all the ingredients on the table and smiling proudly.

-If you need anything else just say it Mewmaw. I hope you can tell me something about Penny now, so I can focus her future classes on specific subjects. Let me tell you, she's a natural emphat, I struggle to know what people are feeling in certain situations, in others I can deduce it, but Penny knows, she can sense how somebody is feeling without having to ask, and she usually does something about it, either by talking or suggesting a different activity. She's always liked psychics, she managed to make some conjectures about me when we met, and last night she probably made a prediction. – Mewmaw was at the content in the bags when she heard this, and looked up at Penny's eyes.

-Well, she is certainly learning fast, and she can manage divination easily, your sister Missy can do it as well, not using all the techniques of course, but I've always believed that she took your divination skills with her, you two should have shared a bit more, it would have been great to have you two learning magic together, anyway, you're right Moon Pie, your lovely apprentice could do a powerful Seer. This prediction you mentioned, what did it said?

\- "At all hallows eve night, the secret will be discovered, dangerous night, leads a group to different paths" – recited Sheldon by memory, Penny looked at him, not quite sure of having said that the previous night.

-I wouldn't pay much attention to it. – Said Mewmaw thinking. – If she's starting to be receptive that prediction could be for anyone, maybe even for one of the persons passing by when it happened. I have already given her something to practice, make sure to contact me if she has doubts, - Sheldon nodded and then Mewmaw pushed the other book towards him – this one is for you, I don't really do that much magic this days, and I know you have a good memory, but it'll be better at your place, I have a list with what I need, so don't worry, and please come visit me again soon.

Sheldon took the book and caressed the cover. – Thank you Mewmaw, I'll take good care of your Grimoire.


	11. The importance of the future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penny is still confused as to why Sheldon suddely took her to an impromptu visit to Mewmaw. And Sheldon has his own problems still trying to find out what happened at the plaza.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have been keeping up with the story up until now, thank you, as you know now, the story is already standing on a firm base, and it should be easy to keep going from here. Meaning that this story is on the Shenny side (friendly mostly, but things will definitely change in the future), that there are 'things' and 'some bodies' that are causing trouble to the characters and that Penny is going to prove to be a great person (and witch) with Sheldon's help. I have to say that is actually scary how much material and ideas I've been having over this story, but I will never get tired of thanking you for the support and comments, that's how this story finally moved on.
> 
> Hopefully even if you're not that much into the 'shipping' part you can keep reading and enjoy the story because the very first thing that made me look for Sheldon and Penny was their friendship and I want to maintain it (even with deeper feelings in the background). Also as you have noticed I don't think badly of any other character and I will probably twist this story in more ways than one. I'm telling you this because I received a slightly upsetting review, but I'm sure I wouldn't be this far into the story without real supporters, so... we can just leave that behind. Now to our business, let's find out what else is coming. As always thank you for reading, enjoy and review.
> 
> In a quick note maybe during the holidays it will be difficult to update, I'll try but I make no promises. Until then Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

**11\. - The importance of the future.**

Penny felt dizzy. Not only because they had just traveled back in that awful way that Sheldon used, if he ever asked she was going to make sure to tell him that she preferred traveling through the Flu Net. Anyway, it wasn't the traveling what had her in that state of confusion, no; it was the whirlwind visit she had just made to his grandmother's house. Sure she had always wanted to know the infamous Mewmaw, with all the stories about cookies and possible promising stories of a not so normal childhood of her best friend.

This however was not what she had been expecting, she would have been very happy if Sheldon had actually told her why they were going there (or at least that they were going!) But no, in such hurry she had completely forgotten that she wanted to talk with her, and that she had questions, of course that wasn't something to expect when Sheldon was the one taking control over every single thing, that was why there had been no schedule!

And then they had had breakfast, Mewmaw had given her a large speech that she could barely remember fully (she was sure she had caught the important part), and suddenly they were back at her apartment. Pop! Just like that, and it was as if she had just woken up seconds ago. When she finally regained the control of her body she turned around, Sheldon was sitting down on 'his spot' on her couch, which was almost the same spot he had in his apartment, watching the book in his hands as if it was made of gold.

She looked at it, frowning at how old it was, it wasn't even a proper book, it was handmade, sewed on the edge and with some pages just added in certain places, that book was not something she ever imagined Sheldon touching, he was more of big, thick books that often caused him back injuries. She wondered what made it so especial other than had been property of his Mewmaw.

She looked down again at the book she was holding, it was in a better state, not too old, not sewed… The little velvet bag hanging from her fingers looked new, and it had a weird shine, not proper of the fabric, the weight of the cards inside reminded her of what Mewmaw had told her: " _I am a Seer, been my whole life, and I can sense it in you as well…_ ". Though she had always been fond of fortune tellers, horoscopes and such things she had never expected herself to become one, she was curios of course, but she wasn't sure she could do it.

She placed the book and the cards over her table and walked towards Sheldon, she sat next to him and watched him while he turned the pages of the book without reading them, some pages had been written by different people, that or the author couldn't make his mind about how the book would look better.

-Sheldon, what was today for? – Sheldon jumped a little, having been startled by her words.

-Sorry Penny, I was… - he closed the book and looked at her. – What were you saying?

-Today. You still hadn't told me why we went to visit Mewmaw. I would have expected you to explain our schedule, telling me that we were being expected at her house, that you had noticed some 'interesting skills' in me, and that I was going to take Tarot classes.

Sheldon looked at her, at first with a serious expression, then with a lifted eyebrow and finally smiled.

-Penny, let me explain. It has come to my attention that you posses some foreknowledge about 'things' – Penny smiled, knowing how much Sheldon disliked talking about uncertainties - , in all the years we have know each other I always thought that you only had 'street smarts', but that's not all of it. You're an emphat, and that means that you can sense how people are feeling, you can sense doubt, love, fear, sadness, all those things somehow managed to make you see how much Leonard actually felt for you at some point, and you allowed that feeling to invade you, and that's only my assumption, maybe that's why you two were a couple for a while, but it was in time when Leonard was finally feeling loved that his indecision and lack of self confidence kicked in.

"I'm sure you noticed that every time he started showing sings of being unsure your own feelings were tested, I'm sure you really developed feelings towards him, but they were not as strong as his, and there was also the fact that we all had different emotions, we're a group and you've been part of it since the beginning, it must have been overwhelming to feel all those emotions at once, from the annoying lust coming out of Howard to the frustration in Amy, and I think that's why you started drinking, and that's why you lost focus on your dream of becoming an actress.

-Wow, you do observe people thoroughly! I never really noticed anything of that… or thought about it like that.

\- Yesterday at the fair you made a prediction, maybe it's because you're starting to learn to control your own powers, but it was the thing that finally convinced me that you possessed that ability. – Penny was about to ask him how he knew that was what happened, but Sheldon lifted a hand to stop her. – I had already perceived your emphatic abilities, if you can sense emotions you can also sense what's coming, that's how I made the connection. You know I'm not good with emotions, and when we met I told you that I didn't believe in fortune, the truth is that having grown up with someone like Mewmaw, who is a witch and has been a Seer all her life taught me how to differentiate from a true gift and a fraud, personally I don't know anyone as good as her, she tried to teach me but I was never able to understand the trick behind divination. 'You have to feel it', she said, but then again I'm not good at it, but you are and I was sure that if someone could help you it was going to be her. Today she only confirmed my suspicions.

-But… how is this going to help me? Honestly, I like to have a fortune teller tell me about my future, so that I can take their advice if the situation allows it, but I've never saw myself as one.

-Penny, I'm not telling you to start a business out of it. You have other goals in life. What I'm trying to say is that by mastering all your abilities you'll be able to regain control in your life. Your magic outbursts caused your apartment to stay in chaos for a while, maybe you never noticed but part of your mess wasn't even made by you consciously, now after just a few classes this place is in better state. – Penny smiled looking around at her 'not-too-messy' apartment. – Now by learning this you will probably learn how to control and tell your own emotions apart from the others. Who knows maybe you'll be able to help the people around you before their emotions confuse you and that will help you focus on your acting career.

-You… Do you really believe I can do it? – Sheldon sighed.

-Penny, when you discovered my secret and told me your story that day I said I was going to help you. You're my friend, my best female friend, and if I ever make a graphic you'll be over Leonard. I don't believe you can do it, I _know_ you will. After all you were the one that made us work a whole night to make a thousand Penny Blossoms. You managed that in one night, the changes that you had achieved since you started taking classes had just taken weeks, I'm sure your life will be different before you even notice.

* * *

Leonard, Raj and Howard were climbing the stairs, the three of them enthusiastically chatting about the last changes they had made to their robot, the demonstration the night before had been awesome and now the only thing they were lacking was a good name for it.

Once in front of 4A Leonard opened the door and the three of them walked inside.

-Sheldon are you there? – He asked aloud first to announce their presence in the apartment and also to make sure that his friend was actually there.

Howard and Raj shared a glance, waiting for some condescending answer coming from the theoretical physicist, when a few seconds had passed without answer Leonard turned to look at them.

-That's weird.

-He might be sleeping. – Suggested Raj.

-No, he never sleeps out of schedule. I'll go check his room. – Said Leonard walking to his roommate bedroom. As always a bit turn of the knob and a push didn't work, Sheldon wasn't in the apartment, he never allowed anyone into his bedroom and it was always locked when he was out since the last time they had been robed.

With a sigh Leonard walked back to the living room, where Howard and Raj were already watching something on the TV.

-It's seems like the apartment is Sheldon free.

Both men at the couch cheered up.

-Don't sing victory too soon, he is probably with Penny. – Said Leonard sitting down on his chair.

-I know they're good friends, and that they get along with each other, god knows how, but don't you think is weird that they are spending so much time together? – Asked Howard.

-They're spending the same amount of time together as always, at least I don't think is any different from the time when they were both single like now. – Said Raj taking the remote and searching something else to watch.

-We all know that between Penny and Sheldon exists a connection that no one can understand, but Raj is right, they're not spending more time together than usual; it's just weird because they're not in a relationship after a long time being in one.

-Yeah, who would have thought that Sheldon was going to be in a romantic relationship with a girl we both found at a dating site for three years? – Said Raj dreamily, in the direction of Howard.

-Yeah, it was actually incredible. – Said Howard smiling proudly. – But that's not what I meant. Remember that day when we saw Penny at the cafeteria? – Both scientists nodded. – Well it was not the only time she was there, it's weird but I think I've seen her there at least a couple of times after that. Before you say that it could have been somebody else let me tell you that the other day I found Kripke, we were both returning to our office, and he started talking, you know how much he likes gossip, well he said he had saw "Woxane" visiting Sheldon, and that she had been going there for a few days straight, he asked me if I knew anything about it.

-What did you tell him?

-I said it wasn't his business and walked away. I mean, maybe I don't know why Penny is going there, but if I knew I wasn't going to tell him either.

-But then Penny has been actually going to visit Sheldon at work. Do you think we should investigate? – Said Raj looking pensive to the ceiling.

-What for?

-Well you know I trust Sheldon, but what if he's experimenting with something and he's using Penny as 'test subject'?

-Raj, that's highly unlikely.

-I'm just saying.

-Do you really think that Penny would allow him to do those sorts of things without telling Amy or Bernadette? My wife hasn't mentioned anything like that, and let me tell you, she tells me everything…

-I don't think she…

-No, she does. Sometimes I think she says it out loud trying to catch me off guard, but I always listen.

* * *

Later that night Sheldon was standing next to the window in his room, he had received a pair of letters regarding the events at the plaza just a few days ago. He was worried. After working out the problem that day he had sent some letters to ask the government to start an investigation, making sure to note how it could have affected more than some muggles in the place and suggesting to check on the employees working in the food business in the plaza to see if there was some irresponsible young wizard around. Even if someone had forgotten its purchases it was a huge problem for the Status of Secrecy, especially if muggles were using it because some of the effects could've been lethal for some people, he shuddered just thinking on the problems it could have carried for him if any of his friends had suffered from long term effects or died.

The answer he had received only until today was more suspicious though, although he had sent with the letters proves, and that the authorities had taken care of it they hadn't found any more traces of the substance in the area, or in any local, the investigation team had searched for more reports of the same case and hadn't found or heard about it, not even a case where the *Department of Accidental Magic or the Improper Use of Magic Office were call to intervene.

This meant it had been a personal attack, someone wanted to mess up with them, whoever it was. That's why it had used that ingredient in the first place, with it the attacker had made sure to know which of them were wizards, maybe fearing that Penny wasn't his only companion in the magic world, it had been risky, and the perfect timing for the effects to be noticed indicated that this person knew where they lived, maybe someone living in the same building or in the area, maybe at work… There were many possibilities, but why would they go to such measures to get to them? What do they wanted?

When Penny had became his apprentice he had worried a bit for the security he had placed around him, but then only Penny was able to go through it without trouble because she had always been a witch. He sighed and placed the letters between the pages of a book, he was still going to recheck the protective spells around them, and place some new ones as well so there was no point in keeping the idea rolling around his head.

He had new classes to plan and a 'discovery' to make (more like translate from "wizard understanding" to "english for muggles"). Maybe he could try and see if Penny could work as the old fashioned apprentices, behind his back, seeing how he summoned the magic from the earth and learning on her own… Dreaming was always nice, but after smiling at the thought he made a mental note of what he was going to do later; once the basic theory was over he was going to enter to the metaphysics field and that was a bit more complicated to explain than basic physics. That combined with Penny's possible questions about her divination training were things he wasn't really glad to have to do soon.

At least, he thought while changing into his pajamas, his apprentice was a (still surprisingly) very talented woman, she wouldn't have trouble learning, and that allowed him to focus on the protection around them. Maybe in time she would be able to warn him before hand of any threats coming their way. He looked back again to where he had placed Mewmaw's Grimoire, if anything with that book in his hands their chances to go through any kind of problem in the future were better.

If only he had known how difficult his friends were going to make it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Sorry if this one is not the right name, I only own the fifth and the seventh book in English (the other five in Spanish), so I have no idea how it is written and just translated it.


	12. Keep couting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some potions, shopping in a weird store and whoever was behind the attack the last time they were to "the Dungeon" makes a brief appearance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dear readers! Taking the advice of a pair of reviewers (He-Who-Shall-Live and thebluemartian) that told me to change the format a little (really, I can’t just tell you how many times I had to remind myself to stuck to this one) I bring you this slightly different written chapter. Please tell me what you think, and forgive me if I forgot about it at some point (I did checked it before uploading, but anything is possible, this story just flow out of my fingers, it has life of its own), it is the format that is most commonly used in English, but I assure you (and I can prove it!) that many of my books in Spanish are written the way I am used to. I promise to get used to this one too, give me time, but thanks anyway for keeping up with me even with the other format.
> 
> I will try to re-upload previous chapters with this format in the future; nothing in the story will be changed but that. I’ll do my best. Now, to the story. Many of you have asked me to make Penny famous somehow, it’s part of the intended goal of the fic, and part of the plot will get her there, but first they have to deal with those who are trying to complicate their lives, so lets see what else is waiting for them. Read, enjoy and comment.

**12\. – Keep counting.**

A few days later Penny was sitting down in front of a cauldron, there was no flame beneath it and the cauldron itself was empty, at her right were a bunch of ingredients and to her left a few instruments that she could need such as crystal flasks, a spoon, a knife, a thermometer, a scale to weight and some other things. Just as in previous classes she was exited to do something new, but this time she had actually some doubts on her skills.

 

She liked cooking, when she was living at Nebraska she loved watching her mother do the preparations, sometimes she would help chopping vegetables or mixing ingredients, when she had lived with Kurt she had tried to cook as her mother, but a few disastrous attempts made her stuck to take away, she had tried again when she moved, but by then her patience was little and her time was reduced by her work at the Cheese Cake Factory, she always managed to survive to her own lousy cooking, though her friends will always complain, that and her “short span of attention” as Sheldon liked to call it, had made her give up real cooking, she could keep warming up pre-cooked dishes, defrosting microwave dinners and until now she had never burnt her kitchen while boiling water.

 

Still, this was different; she was going to be preparing potions. Magic powerful potions. She had looked through the potions book that Sheldon had given her and had read about the different effects that a potion could have. This wasn’t like cooking. If she made a mistake she could be seriously poisoned, or suffer from exaggerated and awful secondary effects that would probably need some time to get rid of. She couldn’t help but shudder every time she thought about the incident at the plaza and how scary it had been to see her friends suffer the effects of that tampered food, the memory of Sheldon’s also frightened expression made it very clear that working with this was something that required precision.

 

Still her teacher was still going on and on about the ingredients that she was going to use to develop a potion to make objects bigger, what they were for and all the things that for any other recipe would make her want to just get done with it. Not this time, no. This time she was going to be super careful, taking note of the exact measures that she was going to put into the mix, the time and temperature that it was going to need and the correct amount of turns she had to do in counter clockwise direction to make it perfect.

 

“… at that point you are going to let it cool down and then we will test it on this.” Sheldon signaled to a little ceramic decoration that he had purchased for the class, it was a decoration, and it resembled a little man waving hello with a bouquet of flowers hid at his back. Have it been for other purposes she would probably keep it, it was very cute. “Now Penny, are you ready?

 

Not trusting her voice Penny nodded and the proceeded. First she used a measured cup to pour in the cauldron some water. She glanced back at her book. Now she needed to wait until it was boiling to add the first ingredients. She lit some fire under the cauldron, a low flame to give it time… Looking down again at the book she identified the first material, it needed to be cut in small pieces. She did that quickly, starting to feel confident she moved to the next one. Ok, this was an easy one as well, she just needed to squeeze those little berries (she couldn’t pronounce their name yet but they were all a variety of orange, red and yellow) to get enough juice to add a few drops; she took one and placed it over a little flask and squeezed it with her fingers, the seed from inside slid up and bounced off of the table, she grabbed another one and did the same, this time however the liquid spayed her face, well it was nothing, she then took another one and this time both the berry and the seed slid out of her fingers, oh well, her fingers were already slippery because of the juice of the berries, she continued, knowing very well that right next to her Sheldon was looking at her with a frown.

 

Penny managed to cut weight and measure other three ingredients before the water started boiling, the first part was easy as she only had to keep it boiling and add two different powders, and mix them inside with a wooden spoon, then she added the next two ingredients in with not much trouble, moving the wooden spoon inside the mix one, two times... She looked down at the book again, missing Sheldon’s worried look, she nodded in the direction of the book before looking back at the cauldron again, she added the next ingredient, taking note of the reactions that the book said were supposed to happen, she had now a pale yellow looking mix and it smelled a bit sour, right. For the last ingredient she read twice, and then took the dropper to add the last twelve drops into the mixture.

 

One… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six… When the seventh drop made contact inside the cauldron there was a low “Puff” and she was suddenly surrounded by a dense cloud of brown smoke.

 

She heard Sheldon’s voice in the living room (when had he moved there?), and a subtle breeze aired the smoke away. She coughed a little, and watched the inside of the cauldron… She couldn’t remember preparing mashed potatoes in there…

 

“What happened?” She asked trying to understand what had gone wrong. “I’m sure I was getting the instructions right, where did I fail?”

 

“You gave it an extra half turn after you added the second ingredient…”

 

“And why didn’t you say anything?”

 

“You started adding the next ingredient; it was going to happen anyway… It’s actually surprising that you managed to add seven drops, even more since you are still not showing any effe…”

 

Penny sneezed. And much to her embarrassment she felt a disgusting amount of fluid coming out of her nose. She covered her face with her hands, turning around to get a paper towel to clean herself up; she was surprised to find that the fluid was not mucus, or blood (to her relief), but some pink substance that looked like liquid soap. She finished cleaning and took a new clean towel to cover her still dripping nose.

 

“Sheldn… Whads habening?” She asked turning around to look at him. He was already cleaning up the whiteboard that he had used to explain the “Enlarging potion”, and taking it off of its tripod to transport it back to his apartment.

 

“It’s just a secondary effect. Don’t worry It’ll stop by itself later.” He didn’t even look at her.

 

“How buch lader?” She asked looking at all the things over her table.

 

“A few minutes, a few hours, any moment really. You were making a very small amount of that potion, you’ll be fine.” He said now looking at her. “I suggest you start clearing up your table, you’ll need to wash that cauldron before we try that potion again.”

 

Penny frowned; she could feel whatever thing was dripping from her nose starting to soak the paper again. And she didn’t want to take make a mess with it on her kitchen.

 

“Whad is dis dhing?” She said watching Sheldon take a sit in front of her and making a few notes about her progress in class.

 

“I don’t know.” He said simply and Penny felt herself getting angry. From all the moments he could have chosen to NOT know something he had to choose this one. “It could be anything, most probably something you had been in contact with, this potion tends to make molecules multiply by duplicating the quantity of material, and some ingredients stop that from happening at certain point, just be patient.”

 

Penny inhaled deeply through her mouth, thinking about something that could distract her from getting mad at Sheldon, but… ugh he was being so like his usual annoying self. She reached for a new towel while she tried to remember what she could have possibly be in contact with that was anything like what was coming from her nose. There was that place that smelled highly of soap this afternoon, where was it? Was it really soap? Should she save some to use later? She already needed to restock her cleaning products… What was she thinking? This was coming out of her nose!

 

“Sheldn. Can you elp me? I can dake the ingdediets, but I dunt dow whad do do with whads sdill in de caudon.” Sheldon that had been writing more than what she thought was necessary for the class lifted his gaze and looked at her.

 

“Oh, that…” He said fishing his wand from his pocket (he only ever kept it there when he was with her, otherwise he always had it inside his bag) “… _Evanesco_ ” He said pointing at the cauldron and the remnants of the potion disappeared.

 

“Thads really useful.” Said Penny shutting her eyes and fighting the urge to sneeze again, the quantity of liquid was less now, but it was still constantly dripping, and she feared the mess that sneezing again will cause, maybe that would open the faucet again. She turned to the sink behind her, letting a bit of the substance to drop in it while she washed her hands… it actually make some bubbles. And then she knew… at work today the place was smelling strongly of soap because the company had send part of the furniture to be washed and repaired, the people in charge of cleaning had probably used that kind of liquid soap. Ah well, mystery solved.

 

“I know.” He said nodding at her. “I once tried to know where the stuff went to when you used that spell, but I never really find out.”

 

“Doesn’t it just disappear?”

 

“No, things just don’t disappear, they have to go somewhere else or turn into something else. The contents of the cauldron are possibly redistributed, or relocated. One day I’ll make sure to find out what really happens, last time I was required to finish a different project first, and after that it didn’t seem so important…” He shrugged, making clear that it was a topic for a different moment. “You could just float the ingredients back to their shelves Penny.”

 

She smiled, feeling a bit dumb for not thinking about it in the first place. With the fluid controlled for the moment she waved her wand and cleared the table of the weird ingredients and moved the cauldron to the sink.

 

“Penny”, said Sheldon, now in a more serious tone. “I really don’t think we should, but I’m in the need to visit ‘The Dungeon’ to get some things that I need to perform some charms, and I need you to drive me there.”

 

“Sure, no problem sweetie.” She said taking yet another paper towel for her nose, glad that the substance wasn’t flowing in huge quantities now. “Why shouldn’t we go? And, why drive, can’t you just appear there?”

 

“I can, but I prefer the regular entrance, I’ve always liked it. And, I think we shouldn’t go because of what happened last time. I don’t want to alarm you, but I think that what happened that day was an attack of sorts, somebody was watching us that day, our group was the only affected and I think they even know where we live. I don’t think it’s safe, but since we don’t know who did this, or what their plan or intention was, we can’t really blame the place.”

 

“Yeah, it could have been someone who wanted to play a prank, maybe it’s not going to be there this time, or wont risk to do something again” Said Penny trying to see the event with innocence.

 

“No, it wasn’t just a teenager making a joke. We didn’t even entered the Dungeon that day, well, at least not you or the others. It had been planed before hand, because it was timed to make effect after we arrived. It’s even against the law, there’s a Status of Secrecy and a whole office in charge of preventing and solving an event that could give us away to the muggles. Somebody might have seen us the first time we went there, somebody that knows the entire group and whoever it was just wanted to mess up with us.

 

“Can’t you find out who was it?”

 

“It’s actually very difficult these days to be able to tell out a wizard apart from a muggle. You can’t just go and ask to your neighbor if he’s a wizard.” He looked meaningfully at her. “And everyone likes to have their own privacy when living in cities like this, it’s not going to be easy, I’ll probably need some special devices to find out.”

 

“Do you think that person lives in this building as well?”

 

“I don’t think so… But I didn’t know you were a witch either so, there’s a possibility.”

 

“Not that I really suspect about most of our neighbors, most of them are kind of… old, and the others are married and have children. I think a kid with magic powers would be easy to notice.” Sheldon looked at the door, probably picturing a wizard child making the door explode or something to reveal that he was the attacker. “So, when do you want to go?”

 

“How about Friday? The school is closing early that day and I was planning on giving you that day off so you could study Mewmaw’s book, in fact if you like you can have every Friday to study it by yourself, thought its going to be hard to test your progress, I wonder if Mewmaw would mind to come...”

 

“Oh, that’s really thoughtful of you, I don’t think you should bring her, maybe we can schedule another visit for that, but I would like you to be here if I have any doubts, at least while I get used to it. And it’s actually ok; we can go to ‘The Dungeon’ on Friday.”

 

Sheldon smiled warmly at her, maybe because of her suggestion of “scheduling” something, she didn’t know.

 

* * *

 

 

Friday arrived soon, Penny was a bit surprised actually, she had been really busy at work and had also centered her efforts in getting the trick to make potions, once she had successfully managed to make the porcelain “waving man” grow with her potion, Sheldon had taught her to make it shrink back, with a counter potion. It wasn’t that potions weren’t interesting to make, but they required a huge amount of patience, that for her was something really difficult to manage, especially since she had started manipulating other “elements” with her wand.

 

Surprisingly Sheldon kept that simple, she had heard once about the four elements, and she was sure that he had a full day worth of lectures about the elements tab and their origins and values and all that stuff that she wasn’t really looking forward to hear (and she secretly feared that it would come some day as part of the potions classes), instead she watched amazed how her friend had tried to explain the properties, changes and uses for them.

 

Currently her problem was trying to manipulate “Air”, an element that she failed to understand, and that was more difficult to control that water or even fire. So when Friday actually arrived she was actually feeling tired, and she was craving a “girls night” to relax and feel at least for a while a bit more like her usual self.

 

She was actually enjoying the ride to the plaza, it was a bright day and there was little traffic, she loved to go out early, when the majority of people was still at work or at school; still she was a bit worried of what was behind the silence in the seat next to her, in that moment she didn’t remember the worries that Sheldon had expressed before.

 

She followed him to the little library and a minute later she found her self gazing at the amazing painting over their heads again. ‘The Dungeon’ was also a bit lonely, something that made Sheldon visibly tense, but he remained quiet. She followed him, watching the interesting products displayed on the windows of the different shops in the place, the hallway that he had chosen to walk was full of diverse objects, and some of them were suspiciously glowing. Sheldon stopped only when he was in front of a large shop that looked like and electronic muggle shop, only it displayed more casual objects apart from the ‘electronics’, had it not been for the obvious buzzing of magic coming from inside it she would have probably wanted to purchase a new mp3 player.

 

“This shop is specialized in camouflage, it has developed charms to work with muggle objects that can be placed in a wizard houses without arousing questions from either friends or muggle relatives, magic has never dealt well with electricity and many of the actual muggle technology uses it, it’s not traditional, but with time come needs and there’s a façade to keep” explained Sheldon before they entered the place.

 

Inside the shop there was a young wizard, playing with an actual ‘gameboy’ while leaning over a glass counter. Sheldon walked until he was standing in front of the man, who kept playing until the machine beeped with celebratory music.

 

“How can I help you?” His voice sounded bored, as if being there wasn’t really what he wanted, but Penny suspected that it was the way he always talked, if his also dismissing expression was something to go by.

 

“Good evening, I was wondering if you had already managed to arrange a device to act as a _chivatoscope._ ”

 

The wizard straightened up and looked around the store and the multiple shelves filled with different “electronic” devices.

 

“I don’t think we have mister, but some other half-blood and muggle-borns (to that comment Sheldon frowned a little) have come to ask for something like that so I think they’re already working on something like that. I can recommend you some of the stuff we have though.”

 

Sheldon lifted an eyebrow, with an unconvinced look on his face while the man walked around the counter and went to a shelf nearby. The man took out of it an alarm clock and what seemed to be a lone speaker.

 

“The boss worked with these two for months, inside them there is a good quality chivatoscope, as these are usually noisy devices muggles don’t ask too many questions if it ever starts whizzing. There’s also a safety charm inside it that make it hard to be opened without a ‘key spell’, make screwdrivers useless, there’s been no complaints about them.”

 

Sheldon hummed with doubt, and took the speaker from the wizard’s hands.

 

“I was expecting to have something that would not draw the attention to much, I have a friend that can’t handle having a broken or failing device near without trying to fix it, and he will wonder about the problems with the electricity. Also it’s going to be tricky to explain an alarm clock in the living room; those objects are to stay in a bedroom and not in such a common place.”

 

“Couldn’t you just change the shape of it? Or charm it so they wont see it?” asked Penny who had been watching the conversation beside them.

 

“Afraid not miss”, said the wizard turning to look at her, a wide smile appeared over her features as he watched her. “These things are delicate, for years the wizard community developed magic security with a specific shape, but then half-bloods and muggle-borns came asking to have products more adequate to have at their ‘muggle’ homes as to not rise suspicion, the thing is that electricity don’t work around magic objects, and it’s even worse around strong objects like the one inside this ”he said showing her the alarm clock, he was trying to flirt with her, but honestly, his boring sounding voice was not appealing, and neither was he, “if you were to try and add another spell to this – any kind of spell actually-, the device would broke and some magic would be released, and let me tell you, the magic that would be let out is not the kind that you can handle on your own, its quite dangerous.”

 

“As you know Penny, Howard has the habit of trying to repair any broken device, his career actually encourages him to do so with any new electronic he buys, and he ‘fix’ them to fill his needs, well, only according to him. So there’s a chance that he will want to use any of these or at least make them work.”

 

“Well, I don’t think he’ll touch it if you tell him. You are not precisely the man who allows others to mess with his things, not in a possessive way, but in the quirky one.”

 

“Penny” He said shaking his head and looking at her with his usual condescending expression. “What makes you think that he won’t do it while I’m not at home? I’ve asked him that before, he never cleans his tools after he uses them, and he sometimes needs to use oil – I don’t even want to imagine how many germs they had on- it’s not really hygienic and he knows it, so far none of my warnings have stopped him, I don’t think another one would.  While these do work in the way they should, the idea is that the product pass for muggles as faulty or broken, most people don’t bother fixing their friend’s things, but we both know that’s not the case with him.” He said shaking his head and handing back the speaker to the man.

 

“So, not interested in these then” said the wizard, going to place the clock and the speaker back to the shelf. “If what you’re looking for is something that can alert you of any intruder, spy or enemy near I can recommend you something else.” Penny was growing tired of hearing the man talk, and he had not really said much.

 

The wizard walked towards a different shelf near the windows in the front of the shop, and returned with a pair of key holders. One of them had the shape of a star and the other one was a simple shield with a lightning carved in the middle. Both were cooper colored and had a long chain attached to the ring for the keys.

 

“These two had a protective spell, while it’s not as strong in range as a good chivatoscope it gives the owner a good 30 meter radio of protection, people tend to keep their keys in their pockets and the spell makes the figure get warm and heavy letting you know whether if someone is spying you, following you or _with_ you and that person has no good intentions in mind, two for the price of one if you take them.”

 

Sheldon eyed the two key holders for a moment before looking back at Penny and then nodded. “Very well. Also, is there a way of getting a notification notice from your shop? I’m really interested in purchasing an improved chivatoscope, if you’re boss is really working on it.”

 

“I don’t know, but I can give you his contact details so you can send him a letter.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

* * *

 

 

Sheldon gave Penny the star shaped key holder once they walked out of the store; she thanked him and placed it in her pocket. They wandered for a while, going to specific shops to buy some other things that Sheldon needed, they bought some extra ingredients for potions and a copy of a weird magazine that had a bit of everything, important or recent news, recommendations, gossip and adds; Penny was impressed by the moving photographs and the animated adds that promoted some pictures, so far her favorite was one that showed a magic bag, where many oversized objects fell inside a tiny bag in the picture… like _Mary Poppins._

 

“What now? Do you need something else? Can we go browsing around; I really want to see more of this place.”

 

Sheldon seemed to hesitate for a second, and then nodded and followed her; exited Penny started walking back to the entrance, knowing that from there she could choose were to go by only seeing what was being sold in the first shops. She dragged him towards the clothing shops, happily looking at the styles and effects of some of the fabrics, from color changing blouses, to trousers pockets that could hold more things than she thought possible, especial clothes for different weathers, super elastic, impermeable, and self cleaning clothes.

 

Then they went down the shoes hallway… Penny was in heaven, all sizes, all colors, self matching shoes, for everything and anything, to walk over fire, water, walls… to float, to go faster, made of dragon skin, adorned with feathers, jewelry, lace, flats, boots, high heels, sandals, formal, exotic… She was so exited that se hadn’t noticed the added weight on her pocket, at least not until it became hot and she had to stop to look down at the key holder.

 

She looked up, only to see Sheldon holding his own key holder and watching it with a worried expression. She started to panic, her breathing became heavy and she knew she had gone pale, looking down at her hands she saw them trembling.

 

Suddenly Sheldon grabbed her elbow and started walking again.

 

“Keep walking. Try to look normal and don’t turn around.”

 

Penny did as she was told, and Sheldon turned in the next hallway, taking Penny further inside the place, they passed the transport hallway, then sports supplies, furniture, pre-made potions, jewels… Inside her head Penny was unconsciously counting the number of turns they had given in order to get away from the still heavy presence that was supposed to be following them.  By then they were a bit tired of walking, slowly the key holders cooled down again, letting them know that they were not being followed again.

 

Penny looked around; a place full of mirrors was the first one in the row down that hallway. Although all of them were clean, she couldn’t see her own reflection in all of them, only in a few, in one she even looked like out of focus. Suddenly one of them changed and she saw a different hallway inside it, the sky on the other side was orange despite being noon there, signaling the sunset, as if the view on the other side of the mirror was actually far away, somewhere were it was getting dark already and there was a dark figure there, standing right in the middle, her or his features covered by the large cape it was wearing…

 

“It’s not getting warm again; whoever was following us is not doing it anymore.” Sheldon’s voice startled her  and she looked at him, watching him relax a little.

 

“Do you think we lost him?” She looked back at the mirror that was once again showing its silvery surface.

 

Sheldon shook his head. “Can’t be sure. He or she probably just let us go, we must be careful, come on, let’s go ba… Penny?”

 

Penny had taken a second glance towards the hallway once more, and had approached the mirror in the store in front of them slowly. She reached out, trying to touch it to see if it would change again, seeing in wonder how it started producing circular waves the nearer she got to it.

 

“Penny, I think we should go now” Said Sheldon, taking her hand and pulling her back, walking towards the entrance with a firm pace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An apologize for the delay, but the holidays tend to keep me out of the net for a good while and I really can’t do a thing about it, and well, my phone wouldn’t upload the stories, so sorry again. Hopefully you all had a very Happy Christmas and are enjoying the first days of this 2015 without trouble and expecting so many good things from it, my very best wishes for this year to be successful for all of you. I’ll be updating soon and uploading a new story probably at the end of the first half of the month.


	13. News and discoveries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I have several reasons to be updating this late, the first of them is as you know the slowly dying process of my dinosaur (aka, my computer), add to that a writers block, lack of money and an inconvenient lent book that made me daydream about an ivory tower and several shades of… well you get the hint. But I’m back, this chapter is more like a transition chapter, I needed to explore a bit more Penny’s new abilities and make some research to know what I was going to use and what not.
> 
> Also it will seem as if the chapter is finishing to abruptly (I felt it that way), but I’m sure you have your doubts and I’m leaving it there so you can participate in the interrogatory, the kind of magic that I’m going to explore is really very wide and a bit scary but I’m planning to make it work in benefit of the story, please let me know what you think, this story is turning into something so amazing to write that I really need some reassurance to keep it going (I can assure you that support is all I need). Thank you all for reading, I promise to get a new computer soon! Enjoy.

**13\. - News and discoveries.**

 

Penny was standing in front of the full body sized mirror in her bedroom, for once she wasn’t checking out how her clothes were combined or if her make up had any flaw. She was deep in thought, considering every possibility. In her bed, right behind her was Mewmaw’s book and a few science books that she still owned from the time she had tried to learn physics to impress Leonard.

 

She kept remembering the scary part of their latest visit to “The Dungeon”, for some reason even now at her apartment she still carried her keys in her pockets. She looked once again at the tiny mirror in her right hand, the one that Sheldon had given to her. He had explained that the magic properties of the mirror was attached to a “portal” like spell, and that it always activated whenever she called his name in front of it and vice versa. But there should be so much more to mirrors than just that, she was sure of it.

 

She sighed and sat down on her bed, still looking at the mirror; Mewmaw’s book had a brief explanation about divination through mirrors, supposedly when mirrors were old they could be used to have a glimpse of the past, and one could usually summon short images of what could be the future. Her physics books had explanation about refraction, light and angles, she was sure that Sheldon could explain it better; on the other hand the internet had some interesting information about mirrors and magic.

 

Not that she was thinking a lot about it, but she remembered that Sheldon had mentioned something about Halloween and her premonition, and there was a “ritual” that had to be done late on Halloween, using a mirror, she had found it when her curiosity had made her want to know who she was going to get married with… Yes, she had felt a bit ridiculous afterwards, but the context was now what had her interest, because how was it going to be possible to see a person from one’s future appear in the mirror? It was actually spooky.

 

Further reading had also informed her about ancient beliefs about mirrors, a complete opposite world right behind a piece of glass, portals, useful feng – shui (that could make Raj happy) and means of communication… Penny was actually very proud of her train of thought lately; she had made some deductions about the magic working behind the “Sheldon’s direct line” mirror, and their encounter with the _evil stalker_ at “The Dungeon”.

 

“ _If one can communicate with somebody else from once mirror to another regardless of where you are in the world then the location is something implicit to the spell. Not like a skype call, but more like a window that opens and allows you to speak to whoever is on the other side of the mirror, I wonder if it’s possible to walk through them and step on the other side as if through an ordinary window? I wonder if Sheldon knows anything about it…”_

Too focused as she was staring at the mirror, her gaze not really focused on the reflection, it was difficult for her to notice something weird… Until she suddenly was aware of the lack of proper reflection in the mirror, a weird fog starting to rise from the bottom on the crystal surface, she reached out and even at the small distance between her and the mirror made the almost still object to create waves.

 

It was a really weird sensation, even her mind had become quiet, but she could feel the fast beat of her heart, the emotion of the experience being a bit overwhelming to want to step out of it… suddenly she panicked. There was something more there, a presence… or more. A glimpse of what she had seen at “The Dungeon” the other day appeared in her mind and she was brought back to the present… to her apartment, to her bedroom… She was a bit startled to find out that Sheldon was standing in front of her, with a concerned look on his face.

 

At first he didn’t say anything, looking at her as if he were considering or studying her cautiously. She blinked and swallowed, not sure if she should say something or just wait for him to do it… But why? Is not as if she had been doing something wrong or dangerous, why was she feeling this way? Maybe it was just the uncertain feeling remaining in her from her sudden trip to… _the mirror_? She shot a nervous glance towards it, right behind Sheldon, her pale reflection sharing her startled face…

 

“Penny, you were in trance” that wasn’t a question. “I knocked nine times and entered because I knew you were here but you weren’t answering, I called your name and knocked once more before entering your room, then I called you another five times without response, when I found you I worried a bit, but then I saw Mewmaw’s book and I knew, I’d never seen anything like that before, I know that this must have something to do with your divination studies, but to be honest I’m quite amazed that you managed to fall into that state so soon, to other witches and wizards it’s very difficult to achieve that without months of preparations…”

 

“I-I… I didn’t notice when it happened”, she said hearing her voice a bit squeaky and cleared her throat. “I wasn’t even trying to do that, I was thinking…”

 

“Well, that could probably explain why your attention span is too short unconsciously you don’t want to concentrate because you don’t like the feeling of it, you’re probably afraid to fall into this state, has it happened before?”

 

Penny frowned, how was he supposed to know that? It was something that was happening to her, he was just making guesses, he couldn’t know for sure how she was feeling.

 

“No, it has never happened before, and for your information I don’t think that has nothing to do rather I want to concentrate on something or not. It’s just, that… well, this thing about the “evil stalker” is getting o my nerves and yesterday when we were there I saw something in a mirror, I was thinking about that and the implications, I made some research even and suddenly everything…” Penny shook her head, not really sure if she was trying to explain this to Sheldon or to herself. “I actually want to ask you a few things, I’m worried.”

 

“Interesting, I would also like to talk to you about this, if you don’t mind…” There it was again, the uncertainty feeling, and then she realized that it was not hers, it was Sheldon’s… Wow, this was a new revelation.

 

“It was you!” She said standing up with a jump and making Sheldon take a step back. “I sensed your emotions and that’s what pulled me back from that trance…” She crossed her arms, lifting one hand and biting at her nail in a thoughtful way, Sheldon was looking at her with wide eyes… mmh she was going to need to concentrate to put apart whose feelings belong to whom.

 

The physicist in front of her opened his mouth to say something, but she lifted the same hand she had at her mouth and stopped him. She closed her eyes and analyzed herself, she was happy, a bit exited by the way she was getting control over her innate powers and curious… a slight wave of bemusement and a bit of anger were floating around her as well… That was it! That was how Sheldon was feeling right now! … There was something else though… What was it? Admiration? Pride?

 

She then smiled and gestured to him with her head to go to the living room with her.

 

“Penny, I don’t like it when people stops me when I’m about to talk, please don’t do it again”

 

“Sorry, I just… well, remember when you said that I was an emphat? I have never been able to tell who was feeling this or that, but a moment ago I felt it. I could tell apart your emotions from mine, as I said you were the one to pull me out of the trance; you were worried, probably doubting a little if I was fine. I think it’s great I’m finally getting in control with these powers! Thank you, Sheldon” She said and before she could think of what she was doing she hugged him.

 

Sheldon tensed up, and patted her awkwardly on the back, for a moment she was able to sense his doubt about what to do in this kind of situations, then a warm feeling surrounded her and she could feel the bond between them, their friendship in the way Sheldon felt it, there was something more in the mix, a little bright and happy feeling that she couldn’t identify because he pulled her away.

 

“I’m glad you are improving your skills. It should have happened a long time ago, have you started working on your magic studies when you were young, you would be a high range witch by now, probably not far from my level. But that’s not what I came to talk with you”

 

“What is it Moon Pie? I’m in a great mood so you can tell me what ever you want.”

 

“This morning I received a letter from the Ministry in London. For some strange reason they want to recommend me as a tutor for another witch that’s living in the area, I’m not comfortable with the idea because I did say that I was only going to teach you, specially because her tutor quitted and I don’t know what was the method they were using or even what level she has at this, and before making a final decision I wanted to know if you’ll be willing to learn with a ‘classmate’”

 

Penny meditated on what Sheldon had just told her, something about it made her feel suspicious but she was not sure why… So there were more witches and wizards in the area, mmh? Well they couldn’t be the only pair in Pasadena, and Sheldon had said that the wizard’s community liked to keep their privacy so that was not really a surprise… She wondered what kind of person was the witch that needed to be taught, probably a frustrating and infuriating one if the other tutor had to quit. If that witch was like that Sheldon was going to go nuts trying to control her; she was still having her own issues with some of his quirks it was possible that this _new student_ ended up asking for a different teacher, it could go either way… And if Sheldon had told the Ministry that he was just going to be _her_ teacher, then why ask him to teach somebody else? Maybe that was the whole point and the witch was actually coming to spy on them! What if the “Evil Stalker” (now it deserved capital letters) was the ‘renegade’ teacher and he was sending his/her student to keep a closer eye on them and make his evil plans easier?

 

Drat… Of course it could always be something completely innocent and with no evil plans in the background and she was just being paranoid but anything could happen…

 

“Have you thought of giving her a trial time? You know, a week to evaluate her knowledge and decide if you want to teach her, you can even send a letter to the Ministry and they could look for a different tutor while they wait for you to accept or reject being her tutor. That way she won’t miss classes, you can check on her and decide…” _and I can keep an eye on her…_

 

“Mmmh…” Sheldon thought about this for a minute, he had probably not considered something like this. “You’re right Penny. I don’t think something like this has been done before when talking about magic, but it could work, and a week is not a lot of time, it will allow me to know what and how she was taught and if I want to take over another student” he frowned, obviously not really optimist about that idea “I’ll send a letter about it… now about your previous ‘moment’ with the mirror, what can you tell me about it? You said you have doubts…”

 

“Yes Sheldon, we really need to talk about everything, the stalker, the mirrors and the classes…”

 

“… and our friends.” Sheldon finished the phrase for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… any questions? I know it’s a short chapter, but I was being honest about the writers block! Also, I uploaded the first chapter of a new story here at TBBT section; remember the ‘teaser’ at the end of chapter 6? Well that’s the one, it’s called “Telepathy”, I hope you like it, see you next chapter.


	14. News and discoveries (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation from the one before, a transitional chapter again; the classes will be back in the next one, along with our “Evil Stalker” a new character and some group issues.

**14.- News and discoveries (2)**

_“… and our friends.” Sheldon finished the phrase for her._ Penny looked at him raising her eyebrows.

 

“What do you mean our friends?” For a moment Penny feared that the gang had already found out about their magic powers and the classes…

 

Sheldon sighed, and walked towards the couch, sitting on the only spot on the couch that he always used when he was at her apartment. He looked at her expectantly and she took that as a cue to sit next to him.

 

“Penny, I’ve started to learn from years of interaction to know how Leonard is feeling, usually his behavior changes if he’s upset, sad, happy or annoyed, it’s something not only he does, but also at some degree Raj and Howard…”

 

“Are they acting weird?”

 

“Yes. They are not being mean or silent, but they had started to mention your name a lot in a way that its mostly emphasizing, for example, the other day I was telling them that I was going to send some theories to a group of scientist in Germany to know their opinion about something that’s I want to propose as a new study and they looked at me and finished saying things like ‘Maybe you and _Penny_ can take care of working that out’, or ‘Why don’t you ask _Penny_?’ I think that our interactions are somehow making them suspicious and I wonder if Amy or Bernadette had said something like that to you…”

 

“No, but that’s because I haven’t talked to them since we went to the fair. Now that you mention it is a bit weird of Amy to not contact me at least once a day… Maybe they think we’re dating! That would explain why Amy hasn’t called, but Berny… I’m going to have to call them, what should we do?”

 

“That’s the thing; we really can’t stop your classes, especially if I’m going to take a trial student for a week, and with you starting to explore your new powers… weren’t you scared Penny? It could have been dangerous! What if you hadn’t made it back? How am I supposed to deal with that? I know nothing about divination!” Penny felt a bit moved by the way he expressed his worries. “What did you see there? How did it feel? Did you managed to see something from the past? Or the future? How is it that you didn’t tell me about what you saw at the Dungeon? What kind of research did you make? Now I need to do my own research! ... It probably is not a good idea to have that student coming…”

 

Penny waved her hands in front of Sheldon to get his attention “Sheldon sweetie, I know you want to know everything about that, but I’m supposed to be the one making questions I’m your student, believe me I know less than you about that, I can just tell you what I experienced, no explanations, no guesses… Ok?”

 

Sheldon looked at her, blinked twice and sighed once again before turning his full attention to her.

 

“What happened before, it wasn’t something planned. I was thinking, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to stare at the mirror while in deep thought, everything was silent, I was feeling calm, not at all scared, and then everything merged together, the silence, the calm, the mirror, my thoughts… I didn’t even noticed when it happened, the only weird thing was what I could see in the mirror; there was no reflection at all, only fog and darkness beyond the surface, it waved, like when you touch the water. I had only started to get conscious about that when I felt panic. And then a presence… but once I came out of it I noticed that it had been you, you were the one in panic and you were the other presence… maybe being in that kind of ‘trance’ sharpens my emphatic powers. I didn’t thought of divination at all, so couldn’t make out a thing about past of future, the internet mentioned some very old ideas of different cultures about mirrors and things like that, talking about spirits and stuff, rituals…” Penny had started talking very excitedly about her experience; somehow the confused and a bit terrified look on Sheldon’s face didn’t stop her.

 

“And now I wonder is there a different world beyond the mirror? Worlds? Can we access different dimensions through them? Has someone tried to do that before? What kind of ‘things’, ‘energy’ or weird stuff could possibly be trapped in a mirror? How do you do that? At first I was just curious about the “Evil Stalker” and the way I saw him or her in the mirror at ‘the Dungeon’. It was something like the mirror you gave me to stay in contact with me, remember? The one I have in my purse! The hour was wrong because we were there in the morning and there… it was getting dark. Can we see other parts of the world through them in real time? Is there any change in the time at all when you see into a mirror, things seemed a bit slower there, I mean I was there at least a few minutes, but my sense of time was… lost . I wasn’t aware of how long I was there… isn’t that weird?”

 

“Penny, Penny, Penny. Let me stop you right there, you’re talking way to fast for me to be able to answer any of your questions…”

 

“Sorry”

 

“It’s ok, I sometimes feel the need to talk like that about things that excite me, but then I remember than none of you are able to understand them, or have not real idea of the way I’m seeing those things, so I just don’t.” Penny smiled at him, there he was, Sheldon Cooper being his usual self.

She had to hide her amusement when he reached for a notebook on her coffee table and took a pen to start writing something; he was in his teaching mode.

 

“The events that you lived while you were in that trance are not unheard of; many other Seers have described something like that in regards with their specialty in the divination field. In this case “crystallomancy” or the ability to predict the future through a crystal object such as a mirror, a crystal ball or a water source” Sheldon improvised a tiny picture of what he had mentioned on the notebook “…has always got the same description, the one you just told me. As you already said it was believed that you could access or see different worlds through them, but up until now nobody has ever done that, people are afraid of what they could find there, either good or bad, and mostly because they don’t know if they’ll be able to come back.”

 

“I don’t need to remind you that some current theories in the physics field are inclined to believe in the existence of different dimensions – worlds as you said- that hold many similarities to ours, which has not been proved either… yet. The thing is that there really are different energies, some good and bad that seem to find it easy to move beyond a crystal surface, I’m sure none of them are in your apartment because of the precautions I have implemented here to keep you safe…” Penny raised her eyebrows; Sheldon had been making diagrams on the notebook while explaining, he was still in the middle of some tangled picture, but that was not really what had caught her attention, not even the comment about keeping her safe, she had been present when he had surrounded the place with safety spells and drawing some special symbols here and there; no, it had been the shifting of him in the couch, and the subtle blush that had tinted his cheeks and turned his ears red… She smiled again: he was so cute!

 

“Anyway, the current use of the mirror, the one that wizards and witches all over the world use to communicate are all in real time, you could talk to a wizard while he takes dinner in… let’s say Japan, while you here are enjoying lunch or maybe working, the distance and the time in that specific spell are not an issue. As to the assumption of the possibility of seeing a different world through them, … I don’t know… I think it could be done, but you’ll need to do some serious calculations to know exactly where you’re aiming your spell to work and try to be optimistic about the possibility of finding nothing…”

 

“Wait, wait, wait Sheldon! Calculations? Isn’t magic just understanding and willing things to happen?”

 

“Penny I’m seriously considering failing you for what you just said…”

 

They eyed each other for a moment, probably waiting for the other to start their favorite interaction and have a face to face match of arguments… But then Penny’s cel rang. Sheldon’s frown deepened, but Penny ignored him and pick it up.

 

“Hello?”

 

* “Hey bestie!”* Penny stood up and started pacing in front of the coffee table.

 

“Hey Ames! How comes you haven’t called me these past week? I miss you!” From the corner of her eyes she saw Sheldon lean back and sigh uncomfortably on his spot on her couch.

 

* “Aww, thank you Penny. Look, I was going to call you earlier and everything but my new project working with specific drugs to treat neuropathies is taking a lot of my time because the lab is actually testing it over different kinds of animals and we’ve been working non stop! Anyway, Bernadette sent me a message and told me that the guys are going to their robot competition next week and we thought it could be the perfect opportunity to have some girls’ time!”*

 

“Cool! That sounds great…” she said looking at Sheldon. He was not going to like her changing their scheduled classes just like that.

 

* “… oh no…”* Said Amy’s disappointed voice on the other side.

 

“ _’Oh no’_ what?”

 

* “There’s a _but_ isn’t it? You are going to ‘but’ us and give us some excuse…”*

 

“No, no, no! I promise you I don’t have a _but_ … I just need to check my free time at work and that’s all” Darn… Now she was in trouble! If Sheldon crossing his arms in front of him wasn’t a bad sign, then she didn’t knew what it was…

 

* ”Are you sure? With all the time you’re spending with your _good friend_ Sheldon I thought you were going to say ‘ _sorry but I have to ask him first_ ’… But that’s ok, I understand you’re friends and like to spend time together… is just…”* Amy’s voice broke a bit on the other side… Well, Sheldon deserved to be disappointed once in a while, he had hurt Amy badly by ending their relationship, and surely he could handle a shifting week for a change…

 

“Oh Amy, please don’t! You know how Sheldon is and the way we treat each other… But I can assure you that not even he can keep me from spending time with you girls. I’ve been actually missing you both since Sheldon is usually asking me to do something or the other… Not funny or entertaining at all” She said knowing very well that _that part_ was half a lie…

 

*”Yeah, he’s like that. Bernadette’s lab company is actually in charge of developing the drug for my experiments, maybe that’s why she’s also busy. I can’t wait to have a crazy night out to stress out!”* Well at least she sounded a bit more cheerful now.

 

“Me too! I’ll call you back tomorrow to settle things up and make plans, good luck with your experiments!”

 

* “Thanks bestie! Bye!”*

 

When the phone call ended she and Sheldon looked at each other once again, the tension growing between them… Sheldon sighed and shook his head.

 

“There’s no use in arguing about this… But I would have appreciated it if you had at least considered that I’m going to be teaching another student next week.” He stood up and made his way towards her door. “I’ll keep you informed about your classes for the upcoming week.”

 

Somehow, that made Penny feel a bit hurt and disappointed, her previous excitement forgotten… It was not her fault! He had been monopolizing (oh, he would be so proud of her using that word) her time during the last weeks, if they were pretending to act normal then he couldn’t stop her from going out with her friends (one of which he had broken her heart), and whether or not he accepted that student it was not going to interfere with her social life!

 

But for a brief moment, later when she was getting ready to sleep, she wondered what kind of emotion she hadn’t been able to identify, it had been coming from him, a happy, warm and bright emotion… all the time they were spending together due to her classes… maybe it wasn’t the best circumstances. Whatever it was she has to solve first the current problem between Sheldon and Amy, they had to at least settle back as good friends, then…

 

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting to happen then…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I have planned for the next chapters is going to be a little bit more adventurous than before, the new story I uploaded is standing on shaky legs right now but that’s not going to delay this one, so no worries! Until next week!


	15. Dangerous paths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sheldon's got a new student and its about to go through it without his first apprentice there all the time. Penny on the other hand is out with the girls, thigs don't end up well...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I suppose that by now you have noticed that it’s not being easy to update as much as I want, is not only the computer making things hard for me… I think I’m going through a depressing phase or something… I’ve not being feeling fine these week, I’ve been a bit sad and I’ve been writing only little things that not quite convince me, and then I feel frustrated and discard them and… well that’s not the point, because if something lifts me up is knowing that you’re reading and enjoying what I write, it couldn’t be a better profit to take out of something I do for something I like (and that it’s not mine), like this series and its beloved characters. I enjoy every review you send, it makes me feel happy. 
> 
> And that’s why I tried my best to make this a good chapter and I really hope you like it, I based the new character on one of my friends, and even used the name she would like, she by the way knows nothing about this story and if she did, she couldn’t even read it… so much for a good friend. Any way, I know you all have your theories about whose the identity of our “Evil Stalker”, remember that the lion is not as it’s painted, things are just getting interesting, please read and enjoy, as always thank you for keeping up with me, I know I’m a weird one.

**15.- Dangerous paths.**

 

Michelle Reed… Likes to be called ‘ _Misha_ ’… age 23, not too tall, not too slim, outgoing and full of energy, vegetarian, and a good student that had somehow made her last teacher angry and was now there in front of him. The notes said that she had a second grade magic level; she had been also found a bit late for her magical education but she was good at potions and general spells, she had troubles with transfiguration but he could fix that.

 

Sheldon considered the girl in front of him; she was swaying a bit in her place, her bag swinging with her from her shoulders. She was wearing a black hoodie, black jeans, and black converse – it was way too much black for his likings – even her make up was black; her long straight hair had a few blue strands and some other parts were dyed a deep purple.

 

“The last class you had. What was it about?” He asked stepping aside to let her in, he noticed it had been a couple of minutes since he had opened the door and received the paper she had brought; it was starting to be odd.

 

“We were fixing broken objects. Putting them back together, you know, like a broken vase or a shredded page” She said without hesitation, walking in and dropping herself on his spot on the couch, immediately taking her bag and taking some books out before he could say something. “We were using Goshawk’s book” placing the book over his coffee table the girl then took a note book and ripped a sheet out of it, shredding it and then pointing at it with her wand before mumbling ‘ _Reparo_ ’ and showing him the results.

 

He had just caught up with her, took a deep breath and walked towards her taking the recently repaired paper from her hands.

 

“Good. I see you didn’t have problems with that one, how your teacher explained this to you?” This question was the part that interested him more; he had decided that depending on how she had been taught he was going to decide to take her permanently or not.

 

“She didn’t. She tended to just perform the spell, told me what the basic idea was behind it and then asked me to do it. I didn’t like that. I was very good at school with physics and math, so when I started studying this I thought it was going to be more logical if there was a more realistic base behind it. I do this spell thinking about the particles in the object and how they’re linked together into one thing. I also think that there is probably a way to ‘ _glue_ ’ an object to another object with a variation of this spell and no real glue at all!” God, at least she had hope.

 

Though he had this weird feeling that there was something else about this girl, not to mention that she was sitting in his spot and was now leaning back and looking around as if the place was somehow her new home… it was unnerving!

 

He cleared his throat and made her look at him.

 

“As you know this is only a trial period for you, at the end of this week I am going to evaluate the situation and see if you can stay with us.”

 

“Us?”

 

“Yes, I have another apprentice. My … Penny, my neighbor.”

 

“And where is she now?”

 

“She’s… busy, working. But that doesn’t matter right now as the classes are going to start tomorrow, and not here obviously, I have a place especially for the classes.” If possible that information made the girl seem a bit happier. “Can I ask the name of your previous teacher? The information wasn’t in the paper I requested when I told them about this.”

 

“That’s because she asked them to keep it anonymous, she even told me not to tell you. So… uhm, sorry, I can’t tell you her name”

 

“It’s alright. If she wants to remain that way is ok for me. Did you have to travel a long way to come here?” Sheldon asked, he was genuinely interested in knowing more about that teacher, not her identity at all, but somehow knowing that there was someone that belonged to the wizard community living not too far from him made him feel a bit better, at least the community existed, anonymously, hidden underneath the muggle world, but alive.

 

“Oh, no. I don’t live far from here, I am attending a school to get a technologic degree nearby, since I can’t afford college, that way at least I can work on something I like. I’m also working, as a cashier in a little shop near my home, if you can give me a schedule I can ask my boss to give me that time free, that way my job won’t interfere with my studies.”

 

Hardworker, reasonably intelligent, asking for a schedule… maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to keep _Misha_ as a student.

 

“I was going to ask you about your free time as well, you see this specific week my… ehm… Penny has a very complicated schedule for herself, so there’s a chance you and her won’t share all the classes together, but I’m going to give you both the same lessons, and once I introduce you two I’m sure you’ll be able to set some hours of getting to know each other and study together for the exam.”

 

“Exam?” There it was: the first surprised reaction he had gotten from her. He should probably start telling her his credentials to impress her a bit more; her self confidence was too overwhelming!

 

“Yes, if you end up being my apprentice then you’ll have to prepare yourself because I make weekly examinations over every subject taught. You also need to get some different books, our potion classes are a bit behind but that’s because my… Penny can’t cook properly and that’s…” Misha giggled, and Sheldon frowned “What’s so funny?”

 

“Sorry, is just that… you keep saying _‘my… Penny’_ , making a separation, as if somehow you intend to say something different but changing your mind. Is as if you had something with this Penny girl. I can’t wait to met her, she must be a great woman to have caught your attention that way.”

 

Sheldon gaped at her, not sure if there was a way to explain exactly what he was intending to say or not say every time he referred to Penny. My apprentice Penny? My best friend Penny? He of course was trying to refer to her as _his_ friend – good lord that sounded weird even in his mind – Misha was just mixing things up.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. If Penny has my attention then it’s of course as his teacher and friend, we’ve known each other for a few years, we have friends in common. If you’re implying that there’s more between her and I…”

 

“It wasn’t my intention to offend you, I’m sorry!” said Misha lifting her hands in a surrender gesture. “It’s just… curious. You seem to be fond of her and that’s why I thought… It was a mistake, I’m sure she has to be one of your best friends. When will I meet her?”

 

Sheldon looked at his wrist watch. “Actually she was supposed to be here five minutes ago, but she doesn’t understand the meaning of punctuality, so you can meet her either later tonight or tomorrow in class.”

 

“You don’t know how much I want us to get started!” He looked up back at her, a bit surprised this time by the way she had said it.

 

* * *

 

Of course Penny didn’t meet Misha that night, but she had a good excuse. Going out with Bernadette and Amy had become fun with every passing year, they went to different places and very often they purchased the newest drink in the place, it made them feel exotic, and it had led to some very interesting anecdotes, like that time Amy had taken her first tequila shot in one go, she had turned bright red and had coughed for a whole minute, alarming the bartender and some of the people around them. She and Bernadette had also freaked out and were about to call 911 when she had calmed down… and asked for a second one!

 

They were right now in a similar place, surrounded by dancing people and laughing a bit at Bernadette’s face after taking a sip of what tasted like the sourest drink ever made.

 

“Wow, that was a whole new experience!” said the tiny blonde in her squeaky voice.

 

“It wasn’t that bad!” said Penny taking another sip of her own drink and making a funny face after tasting it. “Ok, it is. But hey, they’re not free so we better drink them up and promise to only buy another one for our worst enemy!”

 

“Excellent idea Penny! And if that person don’t want to drink it, you can always splash it in her face and hope that the acid burn her corneas!” said Amy pressing her lips together to avoid spitting out the acid liquid.

 

“Why does it have to be a woman?” asked Bernadette pushing the drink away.

 

“Statistically speaking women see more threats in those of their own kind, mostly because they see them as challengers trying to take away their mates. So it’s only logical to find that a high percentage of women’s worst enemies are also women” stated Amy in that way that made her sound like Sheldon.

 

Penny laughed with them but glanced around her nervously, the place they were at right now had the interesting quality of having many reflective surfaces their table itself was of hard plastic, painted with some chrome paint that made it look like a mirror. Is not that she was afraid of mirrors, but she couldn’t help but being alert.

 

She wasn’t talking about it either, but the fact that Sheldon was right now interviewing a new student made her nervous, what if their ‘Evil Stalker’ was _that_ girl? What if Sheldon was in trouble? Should she excuse herself to the bathroom and ‘ _mirror-contact_ ’ him to be sure?

 

“So, tell us Penny. What have you and Sheldon been up to lately?” asked Bernadette, shouting over the music that the DJ had just chosen to play at the highest volume.

 

“Nothing, why?”

 

“Howard says he has seen you at CalTech more often than before. I was wondering if he asked you to be part of some weird experiment or something, because you never spent that much time with Leonard, or visited him at all.”

 

“No, I… I’ve been driving him. Sheldon told me that Leonard was going to be busy and he didn’t want to bother him, but somehow I don’t think he said it for Leonard’s benefit, so I’m taking him home and to many other places, you know how Sheldon is!”

 

“Yeah, the man really needs a car! But when I offered my services he usually declined…” said Amy casually.

 

“I think it has something to do with women Amy. He’s always complaining when I take him, about the engine light (when it was on), about the size of the seat belt, about how fast we’re moving, about the people still not on the other side of the street yet, about the smell of the car… seriously!”

 

Unconsciously she was staring at a mirror right across the place where they were sitting, and then she saw it… movement in the mirror, but not any movement that was synchronized with any of the people in the place. A silhouette moving through the place… right behind the mirrors…

 

Alarmed she reached casually for her purse, pretending to be looking at her cel, but looking for her keys instead… Just as she had thought the key holder was heavy, she felt her heart start to hammer faster in her chest, she was in danger! Amy, Bernadette and she were in danger! Should she risk a call to Sheldon? Where had she put that mirror? She looked around, feeling the panic raise inside her.

 

“Girls, I… I don’t think I quite like this place, you know, with its sour drinks and everything… too noisy… Maybe we should get going…” she said hoping that it was a good excuse.

 

“No! We’ve just got here! We’re not even drunk yet!” said Bernadette suddenly.

 

“It’s surprisingly early for you to want to go back Penny. Do you really want to go or do you have a previous appointment?” asked Amy, at first her expression was serious, but then something changed and she frowned. “Probably to play some videogames with your beloved friend? Why don’t you tell us the truth?” said Amy sounding angry.

 

“No! … Is not that, really! I just…” she looked around once again, the quantity of mirrors and the movement inside them made her feel more nervous. “We can go somewhere else, I don’t like it here. Please?”

 

“That sounds better, don’t you think Amy?” said Bernadette sensing the sudden change in the mood. Still frowning, the brunette nodded and turned around, making her way out of the place, followed by Bernadette.

 

Penny took her purse and started to go behind them, trying to move as quickly as possible… But there was a problem, she saw it starting to change suddenly, the gracious dancing of some people in the place started to slow down, in front of her Amy and Bernadette started moving slower, the music sounded strange and even the bartender was pouring a drink in the slowest motion she had ever seen. She only noticed it had affected her also when suddenly the time froze and nothing else moved in the place, leaving her mid step.

 

Scared and only being able to move her eyes and see what was in her range she felt a shiver ran down her spine. … And then it moved, right behind the mirror in front of her, like a shadow at first, and then walking out of somewhere at her back, a dark tall figure. Paralyzed as she was she couldn’t see the person, but she knew it was a man by his height and voice…

 

“ _She was right. You are a beautiful woman… I should keep you_.” the man raised a hand and ran his fingers from her neck and down to her arm. Penny shivered and felt fear raising even more inside her, she didn’t know the man, but somehow his voice sounded familiar, as if she had listened to it before. “ _You would do a fine piece of porcelain, and will probably break the same way… But not right now_.” This time she felt the man’s breath on her neck, and she felt her eyes starting to water, she was even more scared now, was this man planning to do something to her? “ _Since you noticed before she arrived I will let you go… But let me warn you babe, you’re being watched, your precious teacher has something she wants and since we know there are only two of you I don’t think it will be wise for you to fight us. If you want to live, make sure to step aside and let her get what she needs_.” Penny felt the man step aside and her body starting to tremble at the same time. She stopped there, in the same spot while the music and the movement restarted, looking around scared to see that man standing next to her.

 

“Penny, hurry up!” said Bernadette’s voice wincing when she felt her hand land on her shoulder. “Penny? … Penny, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” said the petite woman looking up to her. Penny wiped her eyes with shaking hands and looked at Bernadette. “Let’s get you out of here.”

 

She allowed her friend to pull her out of the place; Amy was already outside, pacing in front of the door.

 

“Finally! What… What happened?” asked Amy sounding alarmed when she saw them approach.

 

“I don’t know. I think she had some kind of panic attack, she’s trembling nonstop!” said Bernadette now running her hands up and down her arms, trying to comfort Penny.

 

“So it was really the place!” said Amy suddenly looking guilty. “I’m sorry Penny, for what I said in there… I didn’t know you were feeling like this. Let’s go to my place, its not far from here, I’ll make you tea.” Amy pulled Penny into a tight hug before leading her towards the street where Bernadette was already stopping a taxi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to write a bit of Sheldon’s self esteem in this chapter, but I think it ended up being a bit confusing, also I think my friend’s style of dressing and ever happy personality would make him feel uncomfortable, but what do I know? Also I’m still not sure if what just happened in that bar was ok. Maybe that “evil minion #1” said too much, would it be for their benefit of was it a bad idea? Who is “She”? I’ll leave you to consider it, until next chapter!


	16. Tangled emotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penny needs to tell Sheldon what happened at the club the other night, but theres also that new student of him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m terribly sorry for the delay, especially because last chapter was kind of exciting and I know what it feels like to wait for the next one. I had one of the worst weeks in my life, nothing really interesting happened, it was just difficult. Someone I love dearly decided that I needed to go through ‘shock therapy’ in his terms and (metaphorically) pushed me to the deepest trash can he found. I tried to keep writing, I actually worked all week on this, but I kept feeling that everything was wrong and useless. I deleted most of the original chapter before deciding that I liked it; I had to thank you actually, because had it not been for the reviews/comments and new followers messages that arrived at my mail I would have just given up.
> 
> So, with a lot of effort and trying to stop thinking about what happened last week I gathered some good mood and finished a new chapter! Thank you very much for reading I really love reading your comments and knowing that you like it, this story makes me proud, I hope you enjoy this chapter… there’s more to come!

**16\. - Tangled emotions.**

 

That night after a lot of relaxing tea, a bit of her amazing friend’s kindness and a movie – that ended up with the three of them sleeping on the couch in front of the television still on – Penny felt recovered. Not fully, she still had the feeling that every person she passed by was watching her and they were all trying to harm her, but she at least had made it home without any incidents and that was something.

 

She breathed deeply, panic wasn’t the answer. She had to talk to Sheldon about what had happened he was going to solve this, maybe even found out who was the person behind everything. Yes he definitely needed to know, and she was probably going to need all her strength to defend him as well – this was better, not panic, bravery -, she was not going to allow a bunch of idiots steal Sheldon’s work, she was going to stay alert and watch every suspicious thing that could mean they were near.

 

Feeling a bit better with herself she climbed out of her car and walked into CalTech’s building, Sheldon had sent her a text asking her to come for class, she wasn’t at all sure if his new student was going to be there, but she wasn’t at all exited to know her either. She was probably a troublemaker with poor magic skills and with possibilities of making something Sheldon wouldn’t like at any moment, she was going to have a hard time if she wanted to stay. Especially because she knew how strict Sheldon could be regarding his professional work. Also the possibility of her being some kind of spy from their “Evil Stalker” had crossed her mind and she was determined to stop anyone if she had to.

 

She walked up to where Sheldon’s ‘normal office’ was, and she was a bit surprised to find a girl sitting on the floor, opposite to the door and making some drawings, her black outfit and multicolored hair make her think that maybe the ‘arts department’ was trying to make Sheldon mad _again_ , she sent a confusing glare to the girl in question, but she was too busy listening music if the black lines of her earphones was anything to go by. Not really paying attention to her Penny knocked at the door.

 

“Who is it?” asked Sheldon’s voice from inside.

 

She opened the door and looked inside smiling. “Hello Moon Pie!” God, it was amazing how soothing it was to see him, no matter how much she had tried to shake the stress away by herself, seeing him had been what she needed to finally relax.

 

“Penny!” he said smiling too, and then he looked at his watch. “I think it’s the first time you’ve ever arrived this early. Give me five more minutes and we can go.” She entered his office and went to sit over his desk, almost at the same moment the girl that had been sitting outside knocked shyly at the door. Who was that girl?

 

“Doctor Cooper?” she asked, pulling out one of her earphones.

 

“Michelle, how nice of you to join us, as I just told Penny we can leave in a few minutes, if you could please wait in silence” Sheldon turned his attention back to the white board and continued his work.

 

Penny narrowed her eyes. So this was the ‘trial student’… Somehow she wasn’t at all as she had pictured her, she did have the look of a troublemaker and she also looked like someone Sheldon wouldn’t like for too long, but there was something else there. Michelle caught her eye and smiled at her, out of kindness she returned the smile with a nod. What seemed like more than five minutes passed before Sheldon finally capped his pen and turned to see them. Looking at the two women as if there was something missing there…

 

“Sorry, I should’ve introduced you. Penny this is Michelle Reed, she’s the student I told you about. Misha – that’s how she likes to be called (he said turning to Penny) – this is Penny, my neighbor and friend, and for this week your classmate; as you know unless I decide to keep teaching you that’s just temporary” Penny frowned; sometimes Sheldon just wouldn’t know when he was being a bit cruel.

 

She jumped down from the desk and approached Misha, extending her hand to her. “Nice to meet you Misha” The girl smiled and shook her hand.

 

“Nice to meet you too, I’ve been hearing a lot about you, I hope we get to be classmates for longer than a week” Penny smiled before signaling the door with her head and walking out of the office.

 

So Sheldon had been talking _a lot_ about her, what about? She knew that he loved to hear his own voice and that’s why he talked a lot, but he usually talked about himself, why would he need to talk about her? She placed that over the “life mystery’s” pile and kept walking, feeling slightly happier for no reason.

 

Sheldon caught up with Misha and started telling her about ‘his other office’ and its singularities in a low voice, not that there were many people that could hear them around anyway; she walked beside them, smiling and nodding when Sheldon addressed her. When they turned a corner they found Howard, Raj and Leonard walking towards them, she waved her hand and the guys hurried a bit.

 

“Penny, how are you? I heard what happened last night at that club, is everything alright?” asked Howard hugging her quickly and allowing Raj to do the same a moment later.

 

“What are you talking about?” said Sheldon looking confused. Penny turned to see him with a guilty look on her face.

 

“Sorry, I was going to tell you, but you were a bit busy when I arrived, so…, I’ll tell you later, okay?” she said.

 

“She had a panic attack last night at the club she visited with the girls, I’m sure it wasn’t something serious, but we were a bit worried” said Leonard talking a bit more than necessary in Penny’s opinion.

 

“Why didn’t you mention it?” Sheldon asked raising his eyebrows to his friends.

 

“We thought… we thought she had already told you” said Leonard, this time looking at the other woman in the place. “Who is your friend?”

 

Sheldon looked at Misha, obviously not having prepared and excuse for them in this circumstance. Penny went to the rescue.

 

“Oh, she… she’s my friend Misha, she came to visit some relatives and it’s staying around for the week…” said Penny before Sheldon could find something awkward to say.

 

“Oh, is she from Nebraska? Or…?” asked Raj.

 

“No, she… I… I met her a few years ago; she lived around and used to eat at the Cheese Cake Factory, we used to talk during my breaks, but then she moved a bit far and… you know” the guys seemed convinced with her argument because they just nodded and introduced themselves. She looked up at Sheldon, who was watching her with a mix of gratefulness, and worry.

 

“Well I guess we will see you in a few days, we went to HR to confirm our absence from the school, we’re leaving shortly, and we just need to go get our baggage” said Leonard now smiling.

 

“Robot competition, here we go!” cheered Raj, throwing a punch to the air.

 

“Wow, you built a robot? You must be really smart! I would really want to see that!” said Misha looking at them with admiration.

 

“Maybe when we’re back, the competition is scheduled for the next three days, but once we’re back we will happily made a demonstration _mademoiselle_ ” said Howard.

 

Misha giggled and thanked them.

 

“You know that I don’t believe in it, but I’m still going to wish you good luck, hopefully this year you surpass other competitors and finally win that price. If not, I’ll make sure to be able to help you next time” said Sheldon with an obvious expression that intended to finish the conversation. “Now if you don’t mind, I have some matters to solve with the ladies…”

 

Howard made a face and was probably going to say something inappropriate, but Penny silenced him by raising an eyebrow and pursing her lips. The engineer closed his mouth and smiled guiltily at her before finally saying his goodbyes and walking away followed by Leonard and Raj.

 

* * *

 

 

“Don’t you think things are getting weirder?” asked Howard once the three of them arrived to Leonard’s apartment a while latter.

 

“Weird what?” asked Raj confused.

 

“Sheldon!” he said lifting his arms in emphasis “First Penny and now that new girl, I’m sure he’s hiding something. I was able to understand that he and Penny are good friends and that they often spend time together, but I never thought Penny would like to spend that much time with him at his office of all places, I mean, he’s already weird here why would she want to spend time there  where he’s even more crazy?”

 

“I don’t know” said Leonard “At first I also thought that it was weird, Penny is not really interested in science. She could barely understand what I do at work, and she hardly ever understood Sheldon when he was going on about _his_ job. Though it wouldn’t be the first time she asked him to teach her something…”

 

“Yeah, and did you see that new girl? She’s not the type of person that Penny would talk to, not to mention that Sheldon is not really fan of chaos, he’s probably going to have a fit of some kind if he stares at her hair for too long” said Raj.

 

Both Leonard and Howard nodded, considering his friend’s personality that woman was the personification of everything that Sheldon would find annoying at some point.

 

“Anyway, I’m not saying that they are Sheldon’s slaves or anything, but either Penny is planning something or Sheldon is experimenting on them” said Howard.

 

“Yeah, that would explain why suddenly Penny panicked at that club, because her all mighty master Sheldon was probably going to punish her… Please Howard be reasonable” said Leonard rolling his eyes.

 

“Speaking of which… Bernadette told me that it all happened too fast, one moment they were talking about something funny and then Penny wanted to leave, it was very weird, she thinks that whatever scared her was inside her purse, maybe someone placed something – a note maybe – in it and when she saw it she felt threatened…” said Howard now scratching his chin and thinking about that.

 

Leonard had disappeared through the hallway to get his things, leaving Howard and Raj alone in the living room.

 

“Well, there’s no way of knowing for sure until we ask Penny, and I don’t think she will be willing to retell the experience so soon” pointed out Raj.

 

“We’re going away for three days, I’m sure we can ask when we’re back. Anyway, I don’t think we should worry about that anymore, it happened last night and I’m sure they’re not going to that club again. Penny will be safe” said Leonard giving Raj one of his bags and lifting the other so they could leave.

 

“But she didn’t tell Amy or Bernadette about that, maybe whatever scared her actually threatened the three of them and that’s why she didn’t say anything, what if she’s being watched of followed” asked Raj worried.

 

“Well if that’s what’s happening, with Sheldon as her shadow, he or she will just get bored and forget about it” said Howard.

 

“I don’t know. I really don’t want to worry about those two right now, we have a competition to win, let’s go!” this time Leonard walked pass them and started to climb down the stairs.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later had Penny dropping herself on a chair a bit breathless. It seemed like Sheldon’s idea of accurately know how much Misha knew about magic already was making a contest. Leave it to Sheldon to actually be able to grade a pair of students by making them float a pair of pebbles over the highway path he had used to test her during her first week.

 

And not only that, after the motion spells review, he had also asked the to do some light spells, and transfigurations, it all went very well, Penny was actually quite happy with herself, she had not only performed every spell without fail, she had also performed some of the spells Sheldon had taught her to clean and had put some order after the ‘ _show_ ’, something that had rewarded her with a happy Sheldon – the most easier to handle. Much to her surprise Misha knew some things she didn’t, like repairing objects and changing the properties of some objects to make them look like something else, it had been amazing to see her change the little pebble into a tiny crystal cup, it looked as if it were actually made of glass and not of stone; she could also ‘ _summon_ ’ things, inanimate objects, it had deflated a bit her happiness because she had also been able to explain what had happened and why to Sheldon, in _his_ language – ok, in complicated and unusual words in English that Penny didn’t use – and he had been very pleased with that.

 

Sheldon had talked to Misha after that, telling her that they will be doing some arrangements to catch up with her level; he also gave her a printed schedule and a book list that she was supposed to buy. During that little chat, feeling a little bit jealous of the easy way that Misha had to communicate with Sheldon, she noticed something else… Misha was looking at Sheldon straight to the eyes; she was shifting her weight from foot to foot and kept touching her hair and smiling with everything he was saying. It was subtle but obvious; she knew that technique better than anyone: Misha was _flirting_ with Sheldon.

 

It wasn’t supposed to make her feel this way, she had seen Sheldon dating Amy, and she had witnessed some of the sweetest moments in their relationship then, nothing had ever made her feel like this. She felt anger building inside her, an uncomfortable weight pressing over her chest, followed by a frustrating feeling that made her feel ashamed at the same time… Maybe she was just resenting what had been between her two friends a few moths ago, just like with Amy there was something unfinished there. She focused her gaze on the floor, unconsciously feeling her surroundings, it wasn’t until she felt the admiration, the hint of being in love and a slight part of seriousness and worry that she noticed she was canalizing their emotions through her emphatic abilities…

 

She stood straight and shook her head, walking towards the huge window and the amazing sight at the other side trying to focus on her own emotions. A few minutes passed before she noticed Sheldon standing next to her.

 

“Penny, there’s something you need to tell me” she felt blood rush to her cheeks, feeling nervous suddenly, she was about to turn away and apologize (why? She didn’t know) when he spoke again. “What happened last night? What haven’t you told me?”

 

Relief ran through her, and she sighed, well, at least she knew what he wanted to know. “Ahm… well, yesterday, when I was out with the girls… We…” she took a deep breath and started again. “We went to a new club; the place is decorated almost totally with mirrors, lots of them. I was talking with Amy and Bernadette about… stuff, nothing important really, when I saw something move beyond the mirrors, a shadow, a figure…” Penny looked up at Sheldon who was looking at her with concern. “I reached for my purse trying to find the key holder; it just confirmed my fears by being really heavy. I panicked, and just as we were making our way out the time started to slow down, until I couldn’t move…” she hugged herself at the memory “… I saw the shadow move again in a mirror and then a man was behind me…” she shuddered and couldn’t stop a few tears escaping her eyes “he… he threatened me, and you, he told me that _She_ is trying to get something from you, something you’re working on… he warned me to stay away, told me that we would be safe if we just…” she sobbed, unable to stop crying and trembling still a bit.

 

Suddenly Sheldon’s arms where around her, his right hand patting her back and murmuring “There, there…” He held her for a while, until her sobbing stopped and she had calmed down, knowing he wasn’t at all comfortable with that she stepped a bit away from him wiping her eyes.

 

“You should’ve called me Penny. I know it’s not what you would usually do, and I understand that Amy and Bernadette are probably thinking that there’s something _else_ going on between us…” Penny looked up at him, surprised to find a subtle blush on his cheeks, but that could also be because he wasn’t used to hug people “… but you know we’re in danger, we’re being followed and probably being spied on. I don’t want to totally trust Misha, she seems to be a good woman but the circumstances of her assignment and her previous teacher are weird.” Thank god, he was also aware of the trouble it could bring to keep her around “You are my friend and my apprentice, right now you’re the person I trust most. There are some things that the authority can’t do, I don’t know if they sent someone to that club last night, it’s illegal to use magic in a public muggle area so they might have. I will tell them about it anyway and I’ll try to do something to solve it from here. But I want you to promise that if you ever need me you won’t hesitate calling me, keeping this secret is not important if I can’t keep _you_ safe… you and Bernadette and Amy of course, the same goes if any of our group is in trouble…”

 

She smiled grateful at him, simply taking in what he had said as his singular way of showing how much he cared for his friends. “I promise I will. Thank you Sheldon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You will notice my change of mood in the next chapter, probably, don’t worry the best of falling is that you can rise again. You might have noticed that the relationship up there is also starting to shift; hopefully things will get interesting later. Until next chapter!


	17. Invasion of... Cheese Purple?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sheldon's new student has Penny working hard... but some things still go wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thank you all for waiting so patiently for this next chapter. It was actually hard to write because although right now I feel in a good mood, this past week was anything but a good one. So I had to take some of my favorite things out and watch them for a while to get my muse working and finally start writing something. For those who wonder what was so bad about the week, just know that I was really upset because my dear sister made the worst decision ever and with that she hurt all of our family, it was like blowing a bomb. 
> 
> The sun has trouble shining over this part of the world lately (both figurative and literally), still your lovely reviews keep me going, please don't hesitate sending whatever you want, even the tiniest of comments make my day. I know this chapter will look a little out of the road, but I'm sure you will notice what's really happening. Please, read and enjoy, nothing makes me happier!

**17\. – Invasion of… Cheese purple?**

It was one of those strange moments; Sheldon was sitting in his spot eyes at the front watching the movie playing on the screen while Penny was sitting next to him in silence as well. The lights were off and the place was silent apart from the proper noise of the movie.

Penny sighed… she was exhausted, she had been working very hard for many things lately that she wasn't actually sure how she had made it, she had somehow managed to spend time with Amy and Bernadette, her senses working at their highest to prevent any threat they could face, studying like mad to prove that she was Sheldon's favorite student no matter how 'smart' was Misha and making sure to show her that 'flirting' was not going to get her anywhere with Sheldon, academically or romantically… he was not interested in girls like that…

Well… it was true! Sheldon hadn't started dating Amy because she was always flirting – at least she hadn't started with that right away – with him! Of course, he was not going to fall for someone so 'easily'… not that she wanted… no, she was just showing her that her 'tactic' was not going to work. Yes, that was all.

So right now, they were watching a movie, she wasn't even sure what was going on with the screaming characters on screen or why they were screaming. Her eyelids were heavy, and her head must be too because she had already caught herself unable to hold it up a few times.

"If you're going to fall asleep then you should probably head back to your apartment," said Sheldon's voice next to her, so typical of him

"I'm not! Would it really be that bad if I fall asleep on your couch… it wouldn't be the first time" she said trying to contain a yawn.

"I'm not saying that, but in the position that you are right now you could wake up with pain on your back and neck, plus I'm sure your bed is far more comfortable than the couch and you will sleep better in familiar surroundings" Oh, Sheldon was just worried about her! "… You also have the tendency to snore and that will disturb me enjoying the movie. So…" Yep, typical Sheldon.

In the mood to make him feel uncomfortable using her exclusive abilities to do so, she leaned her head against his shoulder and yawned loudly, tucking her legs next to her and getting comfortable next to him. As always, his first reaction was froze, rigid at the contact with other people, she rolled her eyes, and then to her surprise he sighed – probably out of resignation – and relaxed.

The week wasn't over yet, but the guys wouldn't be there until tomorrow so she allowed herself to enjoy this sporadic moment. The last couple of days had really been hard!

* * *

Just by trying it she had failed on her attempt to turn a bigger version of her pebble into a cup, for some reason transfiguration wasn't her best subject, it had never been, although she was still proud of her five-legged spider… Misha had this ability to just make it happen without much effort.

On the other hand, she wasn't as good as Penny was with practical spells. Penny was very efficient, not only was she able to make things come and go from one place to another; she could also perform most of the spells to change the visual appearance of things – which apparently didn't include changing their shape. Her current problem was nothing of the kind.

Misha had made appear unanimated objects in front of her, from a pencil to a bag, all of them things that Sheldon had already stored in his office. It wasn't like making things fly towards you or get something to look exactly the same. No, it was summoning. She had to 'call' the object and the thing itself had to appear in front of her…

She had been so frustrated that once she had arrived home she had started practicing with her own things, just to end up waving her wand like crazy and making her favorite mug explode. At that moment, she had stopped and sat in front of her couch browsing through the TV channels.

She looked at the wand that rested next to her on the couch, it was letting out some more of those golden bubbles that had sprouted from it the first time she touched it… It happened whenever she was having a strong emotion, maybe her wand was an empath just like her.

She glanced back at the TV and saw that she had stopped it at an old 'Star Trek' episode, the guys would be so proud! She was about to change the channel again when the characters on screen (none one she could name) started talking about the infamous 'beam me up' part of the show, what were they saying?

…Separating molecules in one place to rebuild them in the same way at a different location…

Oh! Maybe…

She straightened up, lifting her wand and looking over her coffee table for something she could use… the problem with having her apartment in a more presentable way these days was that she hardly had anything on the coffee table now. Looking down at her feet she pulled one of her tin-socks off and threw it as far as she could, she concentrated on it, closing her eyes making a mental image of the material slowly being disintegrated… she pronounced the spell and waved the wand… the image now rebuilding the piece of cloth… She opened her eyes then.

Her jaw dropped, it had worked! It had really worked! She picked her sock and turned it inside out, trying to see if it was in one piece and still functional. It was.

Excited she stood up again and started choosing random things from the place, summoning them to the kitchen table one after the other. It worked without fail every time. Wow, she was so going to try and see 'Star Trek' more often, not always, but she wouldn't mind watching it from now on.

Now, she was good manipulating light as well if she could only manage to produce some lines around the object she was summoning… Sheldon was going to be ecstatic!

* * *

Of course it had worked, she wished she had taken a picture from his face when she showed him her improvements the next day - with a few sparkles swirling around the book she was 'summoning' -, he had congratulated her, something that 'flirting' won't get her…

Although it had been 'subtle' the way Misha had started her interested approach to Sheldon that first day, it hadn't been so subtle the following days, but it was a bit childish, she presented herself the next day with an apple for him, and had procured to answer any questions he asked, even trying to laugh with him when she thought Sheldon was making a joke

The man seemed confused with her behavior and it had been amusing for a while. On the other hand, busy as she were trying to keep things normal with her friends she had barely had time to ask Sheldon about his latest work, trying to find out why their attacker was so interested in it, and the only time she had actually approached him trying to know what it was about he cut her off.

"Never mind Penny, I know how to take care of my own job…" he had said.

He had been working less on that, maybe because he had now two students to care about, but she could still remember the small dark cloud with its strings and al its unique characteristics placed on his desk while he repeated complicated spells and used his fingers to manipulate it.

Now that she thought about it, it could be related to his day by day job, so probably if he was not going to talk about it, she could ask Leonard or Raj about it, even Amy could know better what Sheldon's latest work was about.

* * *

Every now and then Sheldon would throw away all the fun of learning magic and make a boring class about History of Magic, not that it wasn't… interesting to learn about it, but it lacked the action and emotion that learning practical magic offered.

Penny had been about to drop her head on the desk, unable to keep hearing about the regulations that had been settled to keep track on muggleborns about a thousand years ago when, to her surprise, Misha interrupted Sheldon and asked something she had never really thought about.

"Doctor Cooper, do you know if there's any regulation about magical creatures in the zone? I know there are certain laws that prevent us from seeing dragons and dangerous creatures around, but I was wondering if perhaps you know about the allowed magical pets in the zone?"

"Why Misha, would you like to have an 'especial' pet?" asked Sheldon.

"Well yes. A friend of my old teacher used to have a crup, she lived in a big house out of the city so she had no problem controlling it. I liked it so much, I can't really have a crup in my apartment, or a kneazle, but I wouldn't mind trying with a fwooper."

"As far as I know there are strict regulations in big cities when it comes to having an especial pet, mostly because those animals tend to be aggressive in the presence of muggles. I'm not quite sure about fwoopers, because those are really colorful birds – and I don't like birds to begin with it – but with crups and kneazels you need to get a license, they test you, making sure you can handle the animal, know about its needs and are able to perform the spells that keep them safe from curious muggles."

Penny couldn't believe what she was hearing, she knew that magical creatures existed, she had even asked Sheldon if wizards had something like a zoo to watch them, but until now the idea of having one as a pet hadn't occurred to her, maybe because she didn't really know what a crup, a kneazel or a fwooper were, but now she really wanted to know more about that. A dream like image formed in her mind of her walking around being followed by one of those winged lions that some myths tended to illustrate.

There was of course something wrong with that idea of hers, before asking what kind of magical creatures she could have in her home as a pet, she called the landlord and asked if she could have a pet there. Unfortunately, that wasn't allowed in the building so asking Sheldon was useless after that.

To top it all Misha had decided that day that she was going to visit her. Penny only knew about that decision when Misha knocked on her door that afternoon, she wasn't against visits, she loved having people around, it's just that she was still not sure that she liked the girl very much.

That visit proved that they were complete opposites from one another, while not on the same level as the guys Misha had this weird obsession with comics, not the usual comics that she was used to seeing stored in 4A as if they were made of crystal, no, Misha read manga, a certain kind of comics that Japanese people made – Penny couldn't really tell what was the big difference – accompanied by all sorts of images, music in Japanese and funny sounding expressions. *

She also seemed to wear the same clothes, or in the better of chances the same color of clothes the whole week, she tried to make fun of everything and wanted to use magic in every aspect of her life… It was a bit too much for Penny; the woman was talking about ghosts, the 'magic truth' behind some well know mysteries in the muggle world and what places they should visit once they knew enough magic to go anywhere they wanted…

That had really made Penny start to freak out, she still didn't consider that girl as her friend, and now she was already planning a whole trip around the world with her! She wondered where the 'you won't get to see her the whole week' part of Sheldon's argument had gone.

To her rescue came Amy and Bernadette, completely changing Misha's mood, from overly excited about many things, she became the most silent and shy person in the room. Surprisingly it was Bernadette who surprised them by starting to talk with her about old animated series that she used to watch as a child.

"Hey, I was a kid! I had all the right in the world to watch Sailor Moon if I wanted!" she had replied when Penny and Amy looked at her with amused expressions.

The rest of the evening that day Misha remained quiet and though Amy and Bernadette had – very politely – invited her to go out with them that night, she declined.

* * *

In a sudden notion of conscience Penny straightened up, she had actually fallen asleep next to Sheldon, who much to her surprise was also dozing off next to her, his head hanging a little over his chest while the TV showed in a loop the main menu animation of the movie he had been watching.

Slowly she stood up and went to get him a blanket, she could wake him up, but something told her that he was not going to be very happy about it. Once she accomplished that task and had turned off the TV she went to her apartment.

Penny opened the door, her eyes taking in the things that she owned; she closed the door once again. Swirling around in her spot she walked back to 4A, pushed the door open and went once again to sit next to Sheldon.

She took a deep breath and turned to see him… Well, it was no arguing about it, she needed his help, so he needed to wake up now. But she couldn't use her usual wake-up, she had to… Oh, yeah, that will work!

Leaning a bit towards the coffee table, she taped over it with her hand three times.

Tap, tap, tap… Sheldon

Tap, tap, tap… Sheldon

Tap, tap, tap… Sheldon

The man stirred and opened his eyes lazily.

"Oh, Penny, you're still here!" He then noticed the blanket covering him and the TV turned off "You had already gone. Why did you come back?" he said frowning at her, his cheeks turned a subtle shade of pink but she didn't notice it.

"Ahm… well, I had just decided to go back to my apartment a couple of minutes ago, I walked there, opened the door and…"

"And?" he encouraged her to continue.

"And there were loads of tiny creatures in there…, little spider-ish gray things moving all over the place, and I mean loads, not just a few, like thousands of those little strange things… so I thought that it would be wise to tell you" Sheldon was looking at her now with wide eyes, the blanket still clutched in his hands and his hair a bit messy for having fallen asleep.

"That shouldn't be happening…" he said standing up and walking towards his bag to fetch his wand.

Then they walked towards Penny's apartment, and Sheldon was really careful when opening the door. Just as she had said there were thousands of tiny little creatures in her apartment, those weren't insects or spiders, but they looked like it. The creatures were almost everywhere, but they were concentrated on specific objects, mugs, bags, books, the couch, the kitchen table, the TV, climbing the walls…

"What are those things?" she asked.

"Seems like you have a chizpurfle plague…" said Sheldon crossing his arms in front of him.

"Sorry, what?" asked Penny not sure if she had heard him right. "Cheese purple? …"

"Chizpurfle. These little crab-like creatures are parasites; they are attracted by magic… and sometimes electricity. But I cannot comprehend why there are so much of them so suddenly in your apartment…" He looked at her that had crouched down and was trying to take a closer look at the tiny animals. "Do you have your wand with you?" he asked a little bit worried.

"No," she said absentmindedly and then reached for her bag, the blonde let out a little scream when a lot more of chizpurfles came out of the bag. With her eyes closed she explored the inside of her bag and pulled out her wand. Many of those little things were still over it and she had to shake them off.

Sheldon then reached for her wand and looked at it closely. In some parts the wood had been bitten, making it look like a chewed pencil.

"Could have been worse" said Sheldon handing the wand back to her.

"What the hell! These things bite my wand!" she said looking horrified to her now apparently ruined wand.

"It's what they do, they love magic and they probably wanted to reach the core to feast on it."

"Can you get rid of them?" she asked worriedly.

"I can try, but if that doesn't work then we will need to call the authorities. Wait here" he said turning around and walking back to his apartment.

"But…" she said not knowing what to do.

"It'll be just a minute," said Sheldon gesturing her to stay in her apartment. "Try to see if they're staying over the same objects."

"O-ok" she said turning around. They were over random objects of the room as well as moving from one to another on the floor, some of her things were also covered in… cheese purple… ok, so far this things had the funniest name in the world. She moved towards her bedroom, the place was almost intact except for her mirror, which was surrounded by… 'crabbies', yep, that sounds better.

On an overall look things weren't that bad, the crabbies were over a few things, including some of the books they had bought for her classes – sadly also Mew maw's notebook was in the group – and a couple of things she had used to practice magic. Sheldon returned a moment later with a spray full of an orange potion that he used over the tiny creatures, when the crabbies died he helped her clean up and told her to keep the spray and used it if she saw any remnants. He seemed worried about the event and had examined once again her wand before going back to his apartment.

"I don't know if your wand can be fixed Penny, but we can still go to the store and ask them. It's not in bad conditions either, but I really want to make sure that you won't have trouble with it later."

That night Penny could hardly sleep, the feeling of tiny little crabbies climbing up her legs at night was something she couldn't shake off her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think? I should probably mention that I have nothing against otakus*, I considered myself one a few years ago – now I'm not so obsessed with it, but I have my moments – and I wanted to put something of my old self in the story. I don't know if in any of the episodes of Star Trek, teletransportation is explained that way, or if it's even explained at all, but since I don't have the series to check I made my own explanation and give it to them... hopefully it's not wrong at all :P
> 
> The animals mentioned up there are all taken from my – Spanish version – copy of 'Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them' , you know, by 'Newt Scamander', that is being turned into a movie somewhere and that I can't wait to see. I don't know if the names are the same in both versions if you notice any difference just tell me and I'll change it. Until next chapter!


	18. Clues and limits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penny and Sheldon must visit "The Dungeon" again, this time with Misha as company, what would they find in that dangerous place now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At I am so terribly sorry for the delay, I just started a new job and my schedules just wouldn’t let me write, let alone know that a whole week had passed already. The good news is that because of that this chapter is slightly longer than the others, I want to warn you about a scene that is strictly noncon and that will probably make you angry at the end of the chapter, I’m ready to read what you have to say about it – is not that bad, is just… well, you’ll see –, I needed a way to get rid of… *spoilers*.
> 
> Thank you all for being patient, thank you also for your last reviews, those always make me happy. I will be able to buy a new computer soon- thank god I found this new job, even if it’s exhausting to death -, I really hope that will improve my writing time and skills. So in hopes that you enjoy this new chapter, I’ll leave you to it let me know what you think.

**18\. – Clues and limits.**

 

Penny slammed shut the cover of the heavy book she had been reading, coughing a little at the dust cloud that emerged from it, and then sighed… this wasn’t the way to spend an afternoon. She looked around her and tried to look normal… well as normal as one could look inside of an old bookstore in one of the thousand corridors of “The Dungeon”.

 

The morning after the ‘crabbies’ invaded her apartment, Sheldon had insisted on calling Misha and taking them to “The Dungeon”, with the excuse of buying ‘the right books’ for Misha and asking the wizards in Olivander’s store to take a look at her wand. She had been against the idea, first because she suspected that Misha had taken that plague into her apartment – her change of attitude during the last minutes of her visit the other day were still clear in her mind – and second because that place had proven to be dangerous for them on almost every occasion they had been there. Sheldon had considered her argument for a moment, it was true that the only time they had been safe in that place had been during the first time Penny visited it and that wasn’t something to take lightly.

 

Still they were already here, and much to her dismay she was alone in that bookstore, surely Sheldon and Misha were somewhere behind a few shelves but for the moment she was sitting alone browsing through books to keep her hands busy, there were of course other wizards consulting books around her and she felt relatively safe because of that, but without her wand she felt exposed.

 

The first thing they had done was take her wand to revision to Olivander’s, only the girl from the day she had bought her wand was there, she had taken a close look to her wand inspecting the damage made by the chizpurfles and had told them to come back for it in about an hour so she could perform some restoring spells over the wand and test it. It had been hard to leave it there, she wanted to ask Sheldon if there would be a problem if she waited for them there, but the look in his eyes told her everything she need to know about his answer.

 

Standing up from the bench where she had been checking the old book, she returned it to its place and then browsed the titles on the shelf; many interesting books were there, from magic recipes to ‘ _charm your guests’_ , to advanced developments and almost scientific explanations about special subjects in the magic world.

 

“’ _Werewolves: an investigation behind the real causes and the curse that still affects the world_ ’, ‘ _Break with a banshee’_ *, ‘ _A compendium of defensive and offensive spells for the expert duelist_ ’… Oh, that sounds interesting!” she grabbed the interesting book from the shelf and returned to the bench, she turned it around to read the brief description of the book but there was none, it wasn’t a big book like the last one, this one was of a regular size, not to thick and in good conditions, she opened it and was surprised to find illustrations under every description there, it didn’t resemble at all a book for experts…

 

A few minutes later she found herself lifting her head from the book. She needed that book! This was it, the thing that she needed to protect Sheldon… to help Sheldon face that mad woman that was stalking them! But she couldn’t tell him, Sheldon will know about her intentions and would never allow her to buy it… but she needed it. How much could it cost? Maybe she could flirt with the seller to get it for free… on a second thought that was probably not going to work with a seventy year old wizard…

 

Guiltily she looked around, every one else was immersed in their own book, some of them were talking and a few others were standing up to pay for what they had chose. She stood up again pretending to be going to take another book, instead of that she slid the book inside her purse and pulled out another one from the shelf…

 

Nervous, but acting as normal as she could she returned to her place on the bench and opened the book, praying to whoever the wizards believed in that the book wasn’t protected with any sort of anti-stealing curse or something…

 

“ _Shiny vampires, intelligent fairies and genies in bottles: how muggles imagine our world_ ” she listened to Misha’s voice read in front of her and Penny jumped in her sit startled, thankfully the book wasn’t upside down, but her expression probably gave her away. “I had no idea that a book like this existed” said Misha taking the book from her hands and turning it around.

 

“Yeah, it’s quite … entertaining” said Penny crossing her arms in front of her.

 

“Are you going to buy it?” asked her ‘classmate’ looking at her with a hopeful expression.

 

“Not really, Sheldon is the one in control of my ‘magical finances’ and I don’t think he would let me have it” said Penny standing up and following Misha to the counter where Sheldon was already paying for their purchases.

 

The girl just shrugged before leaving the book and then the three of them walked out of the shop… Penny’s heart was beating so hard that she was sure everyone could hear it; she took a deep breath, clutching her purse close to her body and trying to look as innocent as possible…

 

“Penny…” said Sheldon’s voice, startling her once again, the physicist raised an eyebrow at her reaction but said nothing, “your wand has still fifteen minutes before its ready…”

 

“And…?” she asked trying not to think of how cold her fingers were right now.

 

“And I’m hungry. It’s getting late and I want to return to the apartment before Leonard arrives, that way I’ll have time to order the pizza and mentally prepare myself to hear him telling me all that happened during his absence, Howard and Raj will be probably with him and that means that I have to hear them too.”

 

“So what?” asked Penny, not quite believing that Sheldon was suggesting what he was suggesting “It’s not the end of the world if you wait another fifteen minutes, besides you have that… train watch thing and…”

 

“Penny!” Sheldon stopped her in a very loud voice, and she was a bit surprised to see that he wanted to keep the ‘timey whimey’ device as a secret… yes, she should probably stop watching Doctor Who…

 

She frowned, her nerves suddenly disappearing, and stared directly into his eyes, as always the good competitor in him reacted and in seconds they were having a stare fight.

 

“Uhm… If you want I… I could drive you back Doctor Cooper and after that I can come back and pick up Penny…” Misha earned a pair of killing glances from the two friends “You know I… I also have other things to do before this day ends so…”

 

Before Misha could leave Sheldon lifted his gaze from Penny and looked at her. ”It’s ok, if you’re busy you can leave, I’ll see you tomorrow at my apartment at the accorded time, please don’t be late” he spoke seriously, and Misha shot him one of her patented ‘charming smiles’ that surged every time she felt _affection_ from him… Ugh.

 

A moment later she was running towards the centre of the exit of the place. An awkward silence fell between the two neighbors.

 

“You know it could be dangerous…” said Penny in a low voice. Sheldon sighed in defeat right next to her.

 

“Sorry… things have been so stressing this days that I’ve been craving some normality… I guess I hadn’t considered that, yes, this place seems to be dangerous for us, and… you’re not carrying a wand…” With a weak smile Penny bumped her shoulder against his arm in a playful way.

 

“Come on, I’m sure the time they gave you was just an approximation… that witch is probably just finishing with my wand”.

 

They walked the few corridors they needed to get to Olivander’s and entered the place, the lights were on, but it was deserted, a little rustle could be heard on the other side of the counter; Penny knocked on the dark wood and waited for a response, all the while looking at the tall shelves full of boxes containing wands… she wondered what were the odds of finding a second wand if she ever needed one.

 

“What’s taking them so long?” asked Sheldon in a whisper.

 

“Just be patient Sheldon…” said Penny knocking once again.

 

At that moment the door opened behind them, a wizard carrying a box entered the place. An amazing smell was coming out from the box, he was probably delivering food. He looked at them with a strange expression, then nodded in their direction and approached the counter too.  The man cleared his throat loudly; he lifted his wand and waved it around.

 

A voice came out of the movement, much to Penny’s amusement with a promotional ‘recording’, she smiled at the sound of the woman’s voice that surrounded them “ _Lunch is ready! Aunt Wendy’s magic cuisine! We make healthy food look like your favorite junk food! Visit us! Deliveries every day, at any time in five minutes or less, just send and owl!_ ”

 

“Oh, great!” said the witch coming out from behind the door with a wide smile on her face, she then noticed Sheldon and Penny and nodded at them “I’ll be with you in a minute” she said and then started looking for money to pay for the food. “Fifteen sickles and 6 knuts, isn’t it?”

 

“That’s right babe…” Penny felt her heart stop, the man had spoken in a very low voice but she wasn’t mistaken… it was _that_ voice. Her previously forgotten nerves returned in that moment, and she felt all her blood leave her face, she clutched once again her purse against her chest, thankful for the book that was still hidden inside it and waited for the man to leave…

 

A moment later the witch turned to see them. “I’ll bring your wand right away” she said and went back to fetch it. She looked up at Sheldon, who seemed oblivious to her distress and breathed deeply, calming herself down.

 

“Here it is” said the witch giving her back her beloved wand “I checked to see if the chizpurfles had done any important damage, luckily for you it was only the wood and its easier to repair it like that, I recommend you to keep it with you to avoid things like this, you can even buy a special case for it if you are at home and don’t want to have it with you all the time, whether is humidity or chizpurfles those should keep it safe.”

 

“Thank you” said Penny absentmindedly rubbing the now restored wood of her wand.

 

“You’re welcome, since it’s so unusual to have a wand repaired here, I am only going to recover what I spent in my food, it will be 15 sickles please” Penny then turned around and started walking towards the door, leaving Sheldon to pay.

 

* * *

 

 

It was a little later that day that Penny was still thinking about what had happened in ‘The Dungeon’, she hadn’t told Sheldon about what she had discovered but somehow the whole picture was starting to take shape, not completely making sense at all, but at least she now had some ideas.

 

Thinking back to that first ‘attack’ it had been the food, tampered with some magical ingredient what had put the gang’s life in danger, she wondered how many of the establishments in the muggle plaza were connected to another store in the Dungeon, and if maybe the Evil Stalker worked for one of those, and if that was the case, why would she chose them?

 

It had to be somebody with knowledge of Sheldon’s work; maybe someone was tracking him waiting for the right time, maybe the right investigation that would benefit them for some selfish purpose…

 

She also remembered her first visit to Olivander’s, that day the behavior of the two attendants of the store was different from the one the witch had had that evening, Sheldon had tried to explain it back then by saying they were not used to know people starting their magical studies at her age, not that she had had a real opportunity at starting her studies with the attitude her parents had taken.

 

And then there was the Misha ‘issue’ that girl was something else, she wasn’t sure what it was, but sometimes she wondered how strong a witch or a wizard should be to manipulate someone the way she believed Misha was being _manipulated_ … but if that was the girl’s true self then there was something she really needed to talk with her about…

 

The whole scene wasn’t looking as good as she had imagined, she had pictured that learning magic and entering this totally new world was going to be fun and exciting, but it wasn’t all pink and she was starting to fell lonely with all of this.

 

She knew she could count on Sheldon for anything, but she needed a second opinion, somebody else to trust with all of this.  She even felt a bit sad for Sheldon, going through all of that practically his whole life, hiding his powers from his family and his friends, how many times had he needed to talk about a magic problem without having someone to talk to. All his quirks, the way he usually thought, how even when he asked somebody else to drive him he usually took care of his business without them. Sheldon was used to interact with people, but not to trust them fully…

 

He was doing that with her right now, not letting her know about his work, probably thinking that she wouldn’t be able to do something to help him, hiding away from her just to save her the worry… She had to find a way to let him know that he could trust her, that he was not alone anymore…

 

She looked around at the apartment; the whole gang was sitting on their usual places, and they all seemed very happy. Just then Raj stood up and went over to where she was.

 

“Are you okay? You’ve been very quiet today” he said with his usual smile.

 

“I’m fine, just a bit tired” she said returning the smile and moving to one side while Raj helped himself a bottle of water from the fridge, and then an idea crossed her mind… maybe, if she could find the right way to put it out “Raj…”

 

“What?” Asked the astrophysicist.

 

“Uhm… do you believe in magic?” she asked trying to sound casual with her question.

 

“Mmh, do you mean like pulling a rabbit out of a hat? Or like Dynamo freezing a fountain only with his hands? I know there are some special tricks those ‘magicians’ use to perform magic, but I don’t know…”

 

“No, I mean, like real magic! Like I can make appear a cake out of nowhere… Wave a wand and turn you into a frog… that kind of magic.”

 

“Dynamo then” said Raj getting an understanding expression.

 

“Dynamo?”

 

“Yes, he’s a wizard or something, haven’t you seen his show? He does things that I can’t really find a way to explain, he pushed a cell phone inside a glass bottle in one move, and it was amazing. Of course there’s a show that ‘says’ it can explain it but I don’t like to watch it, takes away the magic. You know what they say; magic and science are complete opposites.”

 

“Yeah… right” said Penny glancing at Sheldon briefly, the man was the living proof that magic and science were not as different as people thought.

 

“But answering your question, personally I think that magic really exists, it’s probably in the tiniest details, but it’s there. It would be amazing to see a cake appear on the table right in front of my eyes, but I don’t think anyone with that kind of ability would be willing to show it. Nowadays extraordinary people will fear being tested and examined, especially if they can’t explain how they can do what they do.”

 

“If that was possible… I mean, hypothetically, if I could do something like that, would you accept it? Will you be able to keep being my friend and understand me?” This time Raj’s expression turned serious and the way he looked at her was filled with worry.

 

“Are you having problems Penny? Whatever it is, you can trust me, I can help you and I will accept you no matter what it is…” Penny felt blood rush to her cheeks; it was touching the way Raj was offering his help without even waiting to know what kind of trouble she had.

 

“No sweetie, I’m fine… I was just wondering. If I ever need someone at least I know I can count with you” she said giving him a brief hug. “Now, I’ve got to go, I have work early tomorrow. Bye guys, I’ll see you tomorrow!” she said to the rest of the group and then walked out of the place.

 

* * *

 

 

The following day when Sheldon woke up, he couldn’t help but feel annoyed, he was under more stress than what he was used to, apparently he could only manage some things at the same time, his work and his friends, but ever since the secret part of his job had been invaded by Penny and now Misha he had more things to worry about, never forgetting of course that they were under threat and that he was supposed to decide if Misha was going to stay with them permanently or not.

 

It was in days like this that he actually felt the weight of the years he had spent coming and going from the muggle’s world to the wizard’s world. His modus operandi had been badly disestablished; even his sleeping schedule was affected.

 

However he needed to stand up and keep going, he had work to do and then a class to give, Misha was a good student, he was really considering letting her stay, but sometimes the girl behaved in a weird way - and he knew about being weird - there was just something outputting about her.

 

Deciding that it was better if he leave that for later, he started his morning rituals, at least that part of the day stayed normal. A while later he was in the car with Leonard making their way to work, they chatted a bit about the robot competition, they hadn’t won, but they had make it to the semifinals, Howard had told Leonard about some new ideas he had for next year and the experimental physicist was telling him all about it.

 

After that, he worked for a while on the equations on his board making some actual improvement on them, something that put him in a real good mood; he joined Leonard, Howard and Raj for lunch, trying to ignore the battle of insults that started between Barry and Leslie against Howard and Raj, apparently the other two had also built a robot – surprisingly his friend’s robot had defeated them – and now they were being bad losers in an embarrassing way.

 

After that he had returned to his office and made some research, the good thing about having a more than excellent memory was that he could work on many projects at once without loosing track of each of them. An hour before they were supposed to leave he went to his _other_ office, making sure he had the material he needed for his class that evening with Misha.

 

It turned out that Leonard had some work to finish that had somehow accumulated while they were gone for the competition, so Sheldon had to ask Raj to take drive him back.

 

Sometimes he wondered why he kept living with Leonard, he could easily appear and disappear from wherever he wanted without trouble, he wouldn’t need anyone to drive him and he wouldn’t have to hear nonsense in his way back home, life would be so easy if he lived in a full wizard community.

 

Once in his apartment he actually considered it, now that he knew Penny was also a witch he wouldn’t be that lonely, maybe he could convince her to go with him, maybe they could be neighbors there as well, or if she were willing to sign an agreement she could even be his new roommate there! On the other hand it was a very drastic change, it meant surrender all he had here to build it again from the ground, his job, his routine, his friends … Some sacrifices were worth making, but not now, he could keep pretending he was a muggle.

 

He checked his clock, Misha was supposed to be arriving in a few minutes, it was good that Leonard hadn’t returned or he would need to take Misha back a couple of hours for the class, and he wasn’t at all convince that she needed to know about his time turner.

 

Three minutes before the stipulated time Misha knocked on the door, making good use of his manners he invited her in and procured an appropriate beverage for the girl. The class he had prepared was about Herbology; he had bought some herbs with her and was planning to explain their diverse uses… but apparently Misha had different plans.

 

Her outfit for example, was in her usual dark shade, but today she was wearing a black sleeveless blouse that showed part of her cleavage, she was also wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and what could probably been her best boots – judging by how those weren’t all worn out –, she had also tied her hair in a pony tail that hung to the left side of her head, and her make up was definitely more appealing now.

 

“Hello” he said a bit surprised, moving from the door and pointing at the coffee table where he had set the herbs for the class “I see you have plans for later today, come in. Fortunately I’ve prepared a theory class about Herbology, the herbs here are more for you to draw them on your notebook than to handle them that would be in a different class, I’m sure you remember most of their names, let’s start with…”

 

“Doctor Cooper…” said Misha’s voice in a soft tone that made him feel gossebumps… like in a horror movie “I’m sure that class is going to be really interesting, but can I talk with you for a moment?” she said walking into the apartment and sitting down in the middle cushion of the couch.

 

“I guess you can, but we’re loosing precious time” he said going to sit down on his spot. Almost as soon as he sat down Misha turned towards him and moved so that she was hovering over him, her face so close to his that it made him unconsciously take a deep breath and contain it.

 

“I’ve been thinking…” said Misha lifting a finger and running it down his jaw “… you’re a great man, you haven’t judged me, you are always kind with me and… I like you…”

 

It took Sheldon less than a minute to understand the situation he was in, frowning he stared at her eyes, trying to think of a way to push her away without hurting her…

 

“I’m sorry” he said not sure why his voice sounded so low and shaky “if I gave you the wrong impression, I was raised to treat everyone with respect, especially young ladies… The truth is that…”

 

“Shhh…” said Misha placing a finger over his lips to silence him, panic started to take over and Sheldon started to move, trying to get as far away as possible from her… but she grabbed him from his shoulders and in a bruising move pressed her lips over his…

 

Disgusted and in the verge of a panic attack he felt a wave of pure power burst out of him and a moment later he was appeared over his bed, thankfully alone and safe… breathing heavily he stood up and tried to control his still fast beating heart.

 

Once he managed to control the tremors that shaken him, he approached the door and opened it, wand in hand he walked towards the living room, Misha was sitting on the floor, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed loudly next to Leonard’s chair. On a further inspection the coffee table’s glass was shattered, all the herbs seemed to have burnt with the magic wave, and many other things had flown from their place and were now on the floor.

 

He felt a little guilty for what had happened, but he was also really upset and couldn’t let things stay like that.

 

“You have to leave…” he said, his own voice sounding different from his usual self. “I’m going to send the letter to the MoM tonight, by now they probably have already a new teacher for you… I’m sorry, but please, just leave…”

 

Misha shifted in her place, he saw her nod quietly and then she stood up grabbing her things and practically running to the door.

 

“…T-thank you… Doctor Cooper…” was the last thing he heard before the door slammed shut and he was left alone…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed some references up there, like the one of Doctor Who, a show that I also love, but I’m not sure if I could put up writing to, and also * Break with a banshee a book you might remember as one of the many wrote by our favorite – not favorite- teacher on the original series of Harry Potter, Gilderoy Lockhart, neither of those (as also none in TBBT series) is mine but the weird book titles there that you have never heard of.
> 
> I also want to recommend you – if you never saw one of those – ‘Dynamo: magician impossible’ show, I know he doesn’t do television programs anymore but I really love and enjoy what he did, seriously look up some of his videos, he’s amazing. Until next chapter!


	19. Trap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That girl in HR hates me. This is not fair, I know, but my schedules are always so tangled that I haven’t found time to write (I’m so tired sometimes, it’s really exhausting), and she is the one in charge of schedules… She’s just jealous she doesn’t have lots of lovely readers like me, or an imagination to start with.
> 
> So, later than what it should be – and with no warranties of changing in the future – here's another chapter, it's a little bit short, but I've been sleepy and this at least have some sense and is not a bunch of random ideas (I guess). So read and enjoy, I'll try my best to bring you a new chapter now that I'm finally getting in the rhythm of work.

**19\. - Trap**

Penny was enjoying a lazy day at her apartment, she was on her day off and had no intentions to leave her couch or change out of her pajamas, she had already watched a movie and done some cleaning, she was also planning of giving some time to study Mewmaw's notebook – well, the not 'chizpurfle chewed' part of the notebook – and practice some of the spells that she had found in  _that_  book.

It still made her shiver to think that she had stolen it, she wondered if there was some kind of punishment in the magic world for stealing, and how bad it was considered to do so with a book… couldn't be that bad, it was just a book.

Trying to stop thinking about it she stood up and went to fetch the notebook and the tarot cards that Mewmaw had given her, she had tried to start doing some divination with them, but in a pre-reading of the instructions she learned that before she could do it she had to understand, learn and memorize the meaning of every card in every position and then take notes to make an accurate interpretation.

If she was a gifted Seer, then it shouldn't be so difficult – she had already started, but there was something about reading and memorizing that made her want to find something more interesting to do. Still, she wanted to know a little bit more, she wanted to invite Amy and Bernadette and make a lecture for them to practice, they were probably going to take it as a game so there was no risk, and it was going to be fun.

She lowered the volume of the music she had on the radio and sat down, she read the notebook for a few minutes before repeating the words and meaning to herself a few times, checking the cards and trying to make a connection with the image.

Mostly the problem she was having at understanding the cards was with the numbers, apparently one could read cards with a regular deck, like the one used for blackjack and so, but talking about the actual high figures that she had seen psychics use, and then memorizing the meaning and elements in every card was difficult…

So, she had 22 cards and the 'madman'* – an image of Sheldon in the card made her smile -, she had memorized already the meaning of "The wizard", "The priestess" and "The empress". She could memorize the next three, it wasn't difficult…

Ok…

Maybe it was…

She curled herself on the couch sulking; studying wasn't for her, at least not when she was alone, it was a waste of time, she should do it after Sheldon's class, maybe with him in the room and that will probably motivate her even more…

Speaking about motivation… She eyed the book on her coffee table remembering why she had taken it in the first place. She straightened up, placing the cards and the notebook on the table and lifting the book. Supporting it over her knees, she opened it and started reading it.

The book was divided in two sections, defense and attack. Penny was sure that when they face their Stalker the very first thing they would need was protection, she pictured Sheldon carrying something while they were being chased down some dark street, so… she needed to learn how to defend him.

There were magic shield spells that blocked some curses, the first one required some concentration and will power to work but it had the advantage that it could be proved with solid objects – the principal function of it was to avoid being hit if your rival was throwing things at you.

So, feeling confident, she placed one of her finest cups on the table, and book in hand performed the spell over it, trying to convince herself that she liked that cup and she shouldn't break it. After that, with a little less confidence she searched for her bat approached the table, and with her eyes closed swing it towards the cup…

She wasn't really happy to hear the glass breaking and falling to the ground… With a sigh, she cleaned it up and out of curiosity tried to repair it like Misha had done with some objects… It didn't work well, but at least the cup could still be used.

She placed it over the table again, trying to focus on protecting the cup, stating firmly in her mind that the cup wasn't going to break this time. She performed the spell again and grabbed the bat, taking a deep breath before swing it again… and hearing the crash of the glass on the floor  _again_.

Angry now at the results she tried repairing the cup once again… this time it returned to its original shape, but somehow the cracking could still be seen… it actually looked good. A little unsure, she placed the cup back on the shelf and grabbed a different cup this time.

She was going to try it once more before jumping to the next one. She was doing this to protect a friend, her cups could be repaired… or she could buy more, but she only had one Sheldon and he wasn't going to… he couldn't… Penny wasn't going to allow that Stalker to break him.

* * *

As Sheldon had always said, Penny's span of attention was really short, so a few hours later; she found herself bored and trying to think about something else to do to entertain herself.

She was on her couch again, with her legs up over the back of the couch and her head hanging upside down over the floor, from that spot she could still see the second cup she had used to practice, it had a complete new shape for all the times it was broken and repaired, the good thing about it was that now it was unbreakable! Or something like that, she wasn't sure how long the effect of the spell lasted, but finally after many efforts she had already managed to avoid breaking it - even when she threw it with all her force to the ground.

A knock on her door made her react, that was her pizza! Damn it, she had thought of changing her clothes before it arrived but she was still in her pajamas…, she swung her legs to one side standing up off the couch and running towards the door…

She picked up her phone to check on the hour and noticed something really weird… her pizza couldn't be ready in just fifteen minutes… she peered through the peephole, noticing with a groan that it was Misha the one standing outside her door.

_Why was she here?_

Rolling her eyes Penny straightened a bit her clothes, and then her hair a bit before opening the door for her with a fake smile on her face.

"Hello Misha! What's up?"

"Would you believe me if I say that 'I don't really know'? I suddenly felt the need to come for a short visit…"

"Are you sure?" asked Penny, not really sure if she was asking about her reasons to come here or about the length of her visit, there was also a weird feeling coming from her, something wasn't right.

Misha suddenly looked guilty and lowered her eyes to the floor, Penny's curiosity was picked by that, and was slightly surprised when she moved and let her in. Misha walked in at a slow pace, she walked towards the couch and sat down, her gaze still fixed on the floor.

"So… would you… like something to… drink?" said Penny asking the first thing that came to her mind.

Misha lifted her eyes and nodded. Penny smiled at her and turned around to grab a glass and some water, she had wine, but it probably wasn't the best idea since she could feel an emotional chaos surrounding Misha, and she hadn't needed to focus her empathic powers on her to sense it.

Acting as casual as possible she walked back and handed her the glass, which she took and sipped almost immediately.

"Uhm… is there anything you want to tell me? Or is this visit just to spend time together? I could call Amy and Bernadette if you want, we can have a girl's night!" Penny was trying to be polite; after all she didn't know if Sheldon had decided to keep teaching her or not.

But there was something in the chaotic swirl of emotions she was feeling that made her  _deduce_  his decision.

Misha took a couple of sips more from the water, before placing the cup down on the coffee table and looking at her.

"I'm leaving" was what she said

"Oh…" well that certainly explained it, and gave a whole new use to her empathic powers.

"I-I…" she started to sob, her eyes filling with tears and Penny felt suddenly very nervous "He rejected me!" she screamed before starting to cry loudly.

"Wow… Calm down sweetheart… what exactly did you do to upset him, maybe he didn't actually reject you… he's always very sensitive with some… with a lot of things actually, but…"

"NO!" Penny jumped startled by her reaction "He said he didn't want me, but he's a liar he showed all the signs…" Penny wondered what kind of magazines she used to read and which were those 'signs' she was talking about… on the other hand she was sure that there was needed an deep and long scientific research to know what the 'signs' were when it was about Sheldon Cooper… with no particular interest on the matter… only curious.

"He was always so kind, supportive and open to me…" for the first time Penny wondered if they were talking about the same man. "Sheldon Cooper is a great wizard, successful, more than intelligent and a model citizen in the muggle world, I should've known!" Oh, the advantages of knowing Sheldon for more than a week!

"Sweetie, look at me" Misha turned her head to see her "Sheldon Cooper is many things, I understand that he looks like the best man in the world with all his achievements and his beautiful mind… but he really has huge troubles understanding human nature, you never stood a chance" Penny's words were meant to calm her down, to let her know that Sheldon was always going to be the way he was, and that his reaction was nothing more than  _his_  normal reaction…

His mother's words came back to her mind then; to approach him  _anyone_  should be really careful.

But maybe she had said it in the wrong way.

"I KNEW IT!" screamed Misha now completely outraged, making her move out of the way when she threw everything on her coffee table to the ground, the half empty glass of water smashed and spilled water over the floor, Mewmaw's notebook fell next to her TV and the cards all flew in different directions. A wave of pure hatred came out of Misha making Penny shiver with fear. "You said there was nothing between you and him, you let me believe it, but you want him for yourself! You must have told him, he knew it and that's why he rejected me! …" Misha's breath turned ragged, her face turning a red color.

Penny looked around her, trying to find her wand to perform the new spell she had learned earlier that day. She read the name of four cards while searching from her wand "The hanged man", "The moon", "The wizard" and "The death", an strange feeling surrounded her after looking at them, but she had no time to find out what it meant, with a wince she remembered where it was and lifted it against Misha.

However she hadn't moved in a full minute now and her breathing kept being heavy and ragged, Penny feared she was hyperventilating, but then something weird happened. Misha's head fell over her chest, as if she were asleep but her body kept standing…

"Misha?" asked Penny warily, still pointing her wand at her in a defensive position, if her wand proved to be somehow useless in all of this, she could always use her physical strength.

The girl reached for her own wand, her head lifting a bit to show a lost expression on her face, her eyes were unfocused and her mouth slightly open. Trying consciously this time Penny tried to sense her emotions; she found confusion and fear mixed with her previous anger – which was fading quickly.

With a swishing sound Misha waved her wand – although robotically – and Penny only had time to crouch down before a yellow beam of energy sprouted from the tip of Misha's wand, making one of her chairs explode.

Misha was being controlled somehow, it was obvious in the forced way she was standing and the turmoil she could sense coming from her that she hadn't performed that spell.

"Ru… run!" Penny didn't need to hear that, though it was amazing that Misha had tried to fight whatever was happening to her.

Penny ran towards her room and closed the door behind her, opening the drawer of her bedside table searching for the mirror that Sheldon had given her… She could hear her struggling to approach to her door, and that made her loose patience, the mirror activated whenever she called his name, so that she did, in case he could hear her…

"Sheldon! Sheldon! Damn it! Come help me! SHELDON!"

The door burst open, Misha's head hung once again over her chest, her wand pointed towards Penny; she walked backwards with her own wand shakily pointed at Misha.

She suddenly found herself with her back on her mirror, unable to give another step, she glanced briefly at it, crouching down almost immediately when a red beam was thrown her way and the top of the mirror broke. That sent a wave on the reflecting surface, not a vibration, a wave… a visible wave.

Penny pressed her hand over the surface and felt it pass through it… With no time to think if it was a good idea or not she pressed her shoulder against the mirror and fell on the other side.

She could still see Misha's body standing in her room, but whoever was manipulating her must be disorientated. Before she could think of something else, Penny swirled her wand and performed the shield spell she had learned that day, just in time to hear something being thrown at it… luckily the remnants of the mirror stayed complete.

A moment later she was alone, Misha had disappeared, the one controlling her was probably thinking that she had somehow done the same, trying to calm down she looked around her, her vision seemed distorted there, she could still see the reflection of her room, but if she moved a bit the image disappeared and she could see what she recognized as the dark space she had been in when in trance. It didn't seem to be right, at least not the way she had expected it to be.

In her mind she had imagined being at the other side of the mirror like she had seen in many movies, with a counter-space exactly with the same things but placed in the opposite way. Slowly she stood up and pressed her hand over the glass… but nothing happened, just her hand pressed against the cold glass of the mirror.

 _Oh no!_ No, this couldn't be happening!

Fortunately for her Sheldon shouted her name in that moment.

"Penny! Penny, where are you?!" he sounded alarmed

"I'm here!" she screamed, hoping that he had heard her. A weird presence moved behind her, making her shiver. She called Sheldon again.

It took him a couple of minutes to enter her bedroom, at first he looked around with a frown on his face, then he noticed her and his eyes widened when he saw her there.

"Penny!" he said approaching the mirror. "How?"

"I don't know it just happened!" she said defensively "Let me out! This is place is weird!" she said expecting him to just perform some spell on the reflecting surface, but the change in his expression made her fear the worst.

"Penny, I'm afraid I can't hear anything you're saying. Logically you want to get out of there, but there's a little problem here." Sheldon looked at her and Penny felt fear paralyze her body "Listen, there's only one thing I can think of that could help you right now, can you see another place, a second reflection in there, if so that's your way out, you should be able to see another room with another mirror big enough to pass through it."

Penny made a sign for him to wait a minute and she looked around, she didn't want to walk to far from her mirror, she looked at the distorted images in that place, her bedroom, and the obvious mirror where she could see Sheldon and then there was the dark, fogy and empty space that she remembered. She tried walking inside that space, but the only thing that happened was that she lost her bedroom reflection.

Scared she walked backwards until she saw the place again. She returned to the mirror and knocked it when she saw that Sheldon had opted for sitting over her bed.

"Penny! Where were you? It's been more than 20 minutes!" said Sheldon that had started to worry.

"I went to see if I could find 'the exit' you mentioned, but that was just two minutes ago, so don't exaggerate!" she said.

"Penny, I still can't hear you!" replied Sheldon rolling his eyes at her "Did you found another exit?"

Penny sighed and shook her head in response.

Sheldon crossed his arms in front of his chest and considered the situation. "Penny is the mirror in your bathroom attached to the wall or can I take it down?" said Sheldon apparently thinking about a different solution.

The blonde suddenly understood his idea and lifted her thumbs to let him know that he could take it. Sheldon nodded and then left the room for a minute, the longest minute in Penny's life apparently because the feeling of being in a strange place by herself was really scary.

When Sheldon finally reappeared in her room he placed the mirror on the floor next to her bed, he then proceeded to perform a long chanted spell, moving his fingers from one mirror to the other leaving blurry lines from one to the other.

The whole place then started to shake and she braced herself for any possible outcome. An echo of Sheldon's voice could be heard somewhere around her, but she couldn't tell where. A square of light appeared with a different reflection of her room, she moved towards it, but she found another glass barrier stopping her, it was as if she had somehow entered the place the wrong way.

Suddenly the Sheldon crouched next to her on the other side of the mirror startling her. "Can you crawl out of that place from here Penny?" he asked, a note of concern could be heard in his voice.

She shook her head again and felt tears fill her eyes, if Sheldon couldn't help her out of that place, was she going to be trapped there forever?

Sheldon looked uncomfortable. "N-no Penny, please don't cry! There's got to be a way to help you, I'll get you out of there I promise." He stood up and she could see him pacing in front of the mirror.

She wiped her eyes and walked back to the other mirror, from where she could see the physicist. He was muttering to himself, probably reviewing theories, spells and calculations related to their current problem.

"… _it was believed that you could access or see different worlds through them, but up until now nobody has ever done that"_ Sheldon's words came back to her with the memory of what they had discussed after she had fallen into trance almost a week ago  _"…mostly because they don't know if they'll be able to come back."_

"Penny" his voice coming from the 'real world' made her react "since the last time, when you were attacked at that club, I was sure that someone, maybe the "Evil Stalker" as you keep calling her, had developed a way to travel through a mirror, it wasn't such a difficult thing to achieve if you ask me, but you just entered a different dimension, I don't know what happened, nobody had ever been on the other side of the mirror without a way out or only by meanings of communication… what I'm trying to say is that… at least temporarily: you're trapped."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no! A cliff hanger! 
> 
> I recommend you to re-read chapter 14 to give some context to this one, I know it seems like a difficult situation, but somebody asked me to make Penny famous, if not for being an actress for doing something special in the magic world, and this came to my mind… I know, it’s not at all what someone would expect, but there’s a happy ending, I promise. 
> 
> I know you know that this will be easily solved – it’s very easy, you’ll work it out soon – but for the sake of the story I’ll use the situation in a different way… I just hope that chapter will be longer than this one.
> 
> *All the information about the Tarot cards – apart from my lousy translation of the names (I’ll search them right away and correct them for the next chapter) – is from a book that my father owns and that I used to have an idea of how it works, my knowledge about it is basic and useless so, I apologize in advance for any mistake, wrong translation or interpretation of it. Until next chapter!


	20. Through the mirror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I’ve been away for a while, first it was my completely crazy schedules at work, it was so difficult to find time, and I was exhausted out of my mind. Then I got sick, then my grandmother died (… yes, still sad about that), then we were so busy sorting out things, when I had time once again it had been so long that my ideas had flown somewhere else. I’m trying to find them again, and I’ll be giving myself time to write I promise. Sheldon might be a little OOC in this one, I'm working on it.

**20.- Through the mirror.**

 

Penny just couldn’t get over it, she was trapped!

 

It had been a few hours already, Sheldon had come and go from his apartment to hers, bringing in books, making notes, taking measures and pacing her room all that time, all the while she had been sitting on the floor of the strange dimension on the other side of the mirror.

 

She was scared, the place was cold and dark, also the mist surrounding her was probably ruining her hair and making her shiver every time the image shifted to the reflection of her room. Until now she hadn’t seen any of the presences she had felt the first time she had ‘been’ there, though that time she had not been physically there.

 

“Useless! I need something else, more data, something to get you out of here” said Sheldon throwing his notebook over her bed and standing in front of the mirror again. He was breathing hard and the tension could be seen in the way he moved nervously around her bedroom, clenching and unclenching his hands. She knew that Sheldon wasn’t good handling difficult situations; she wondered how much this was affecting him.

 

She walked towards the surface of the mirror, the barrier that was currently keeping her there; using her breathing she made a space where she could write something to him, he watched her while she struggled to write backwards what she needed to tell him.

 

_‘Stop for tonight. You need to rest. I know you’ll work out something in the morning.’_

 

Sheldon looked at her as if she were crazy.

 

“Do you really think that I will leave you alone a whole night _there_? I can’t do that! We don’t know what sort of things could happen to you during the night!”

 

Penny frowned; when he wanted to be stubborn there was no way to convince him otherwise. She cleaned up the mirror with her hand and started to breathe again over it.

 

“Penny that’s highly unhygienic and awful to look from this side of the mirror, you shouldn’t do it”

 

Penny’s frown deepened, she crossed her arms and narrowed her gaze, how was she supposed to communicate with him?

 

“I understand that you didn’t bring paper and pen when you fall in there, but you have your wand!”

 

Penny rolled her eyes; that was a good point, but the last time she checked her wand wasn’t a pencil and she was sure that it hadn’t turned into one in the last few hours.

 

“Penny, look at me.” Sheldon’s voice was commanding this time “I’m still your teacher, you don’t know that spell, the situation is weird but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn something new, now…” Sheldon then turned and grabbed his wand, taking his usual lecturing pose in front of her, a wave of relief, happiness and some sort of cute feeling that made her smile flooded her and she felt another group of tears gathering in her eyes. “Come on Penny! I’m not making a test, I’m giving a class!” said Sheldon when he noticed.

 

Trying to contain the tears she nodded and followed Sheldon’s instructions, it took her a few attempts but at the end she was able to use her wand to write on the mirror as if using a whiteboard marker and she started writing.

 

 _‘I don’t think something bad will happen to me during the night. I will be alone, yes, but…’_ she was stopped by Sheldon’s hand suddenly slamming right on the place where she was about to write.

 

“No buts Penny, I’m not leaving you alone.” Once again she tried to look angry at him, but somehow her emotions weren’t helping. She bit her bottom lip and sighed.

 

_‘Then at least stop working for tonight. I know you want to find a solution, but it’s awfully boring just watching you pace in front of me’_

 

“What do you suggest?” said Sheldon without complaints; she wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

 

 _‘You could tell me about your work, I haven’t seen you work on that strange cloud that I saw you using the first time I visited your_ office _’_ Sheldon sighed and closed his eyes, sitting down on her bed.

 

“I shouldn’t talk to you about it. I don’t know, they could be listening, though now that I think about it… It must be really weird to hear me talking to you, when you’re not here” He seemed to think about that for a moment “I managed to produce a new sorcerer’s stone!” Sheldon almost shouted the last phrase and then looked around him as if waiting something to happen.

 

Penny was about to ask him what a sorcerer stone was, but then he looked at her and shrugged.

 

“It was worth trying. And, no, I’m not really working on that, it proved to be problematic for the last one who owned it.”

 

“O-kay” she pronounced slowly so he could read her lips. She looked around, trying to think exactly what kind of thing she could ask him about. _‘Then tell me about different dimensions, I’m sure that must be interesting, just try to explain it in English, level_ any-other-person _please’_

 

“There’s no such level, but I think I know what you mean” said Sheldon “Different dimensions… Uhm, let me try to put it as simple as I can. Leaving out some details about the universe and the different theories that propose their existence, they are supposed to exist and work under slightly different laws than ours, sometimes the differences would be minimal and in other cases they could be completely opposite to what we know.”

 

_‘But, if they exist, where are they?’_

 

“The thing is Penny that they are supposed to be in a different place of the universe, and I’m not talking about distance only, there are many things that we still don’t understand about the universe itself, black holes for example are still mysteries for us, it’s like right now, with you on the other side of the mirror, I can see you, I know you’re there and you don’t seem to be very far, but the truth is that I don’t know how to locate you and without that I can’t…” Sheldon stopped mid-sentence, Penny could almost see the gears working in his brain, something big was happening.

 

After a few minutes though, of Sheldon just staring into space she wondered if he hadn’t fall in a trance himself. But then he opened his mouth and looked around, she wondered if the Stalker was back.

 

“I-I have lots of things to do. Penny, you’re going to help me. Wait here, I’ll come back soon!”

 

* * *

 

 

Leonard Howard and Raj stood in the hallway, the door to 4A and 4B were open and Sheldon kept coming and going from one to the other mumbling things to himself.

 

When a good 20 minutes had passed they actually moved and entered the apartment still in silence and unable to come with something to say about the strange behavior of their friend. It wasn’t unusual of him to act strangely every now and then, but it had never involved Penny until now.

 

They hopped for her to suddenly burst through the door and start complaining about Sheldon messing up with her things, but that didn’t happen. After a while of coming and going, Sheldon finally closed the door and didn’t return. The three friends shared a worried glance for a moment, neither saying a word yet, after a few minutes Leonard stood up saying something about ordering food and Howard reached for the remote and turned on the TV.

 

It wasn’t until a while later that day, when Amy and Bernadette arrived that they were reminded of the subject.

 

“Hey, have any of you been able to get in touch with Penny today?” asked Bernadette in her squeaky voice, scrolling down the screen of her phone.

 

“Not really” said Leonard looking up at Howard and Raj that shrugged and looked at the door.

 

“I’ve been trying to call her all day but she’s just not answering. Have you seen her?”

 

“She’s got to be with Sheldon” said Howard.

 

“Yes, he took some things to her apartment and he hadn’t returned since” said Raj.

 

“We could go for a short visit, whatever it is Penny will probably be glad with some company” said Amy that looked a bit pale.

 

“Yes, we should” said Bernadette but she didn’t move from where she was sitting.

 

The silence stretched for a while making them a bit uncomfortable.

 

“Come on, let’s be honest, we’re all worried that something else is going on between them” said Raj placing his hands over his knees and sighing “Would it really be that bad? They’ve known each other for years, and we all know that Sheldon gets better with Penny than with any other woman in the world. No offense” he said looking at Amy. The brunette only nodded and smiled sadly.

 

Again there was an awkward silence, neither looking the other in the eyes, it was true that they had never envisioned something like this to happen for real, this was nothing like what they thought it would be, at some point everyone had assumed that Penny was going to end up with Leonard and Sheldon with Amy. No matter how their friendship had developed during long years and all the experiences they had lived together.

 

“Yep” said Bernadette again “it’s something hard to digest, but I think we might start changing our minds about this…” she then stood up, straightening the skirt of her dress she looked up at Amy “Let’s see what’s going on there Ames”

 

Amy again managed a weak smile and followed Bernadette out of the apartment. Howard, Raj and Leonard tried to ignore the renewed awkwardness in the room.

 

A minute later however Amy and Bernadette entered the apartment again, looking back at 4B with a frown on their faces.

 

“What is it?” asked Howard “Are they ‘busy’?” he asked, a glimpse of his old self showing.

 

“No, Sheldon opened the door. But he said Penny is ‘indisposed’ and he couldn’t allow any one to see her and that we should better come back” said Amy pressing her lips together with a contemplative look.

 

“Penny is sick?” asked Leonard.

 

Bernadette shrugged and went to sit back down next to Howard.

 

“I’ll call her tomorrow morning; surely he’s not going to stay there the whole night”

 

“What’s weird there is that he’s willingly exposing himself to a virus, the old Sheldon would be building a fort to avoid getting sick. No, I think something else is going on there” said Leonard.

 

“You think Penny could be hurt? Sheldon did help her once when she dislocated her shoulder” commented Raj from his place.

 

“Whatever it is, we shouldn’t let him do everything by himself. If Penny is sick or hurt she will need our help too” said Amy moving to sit down on Sheldon’s spot.

 

* * *

 

 

The following day it was Leonard the one to approach the door to 4B, he knocked feeling nervous and a bit shy. Sheldon had actually spent the night at Penny’s, something that his traitorous imagination had not let pass and had supplied him with images that he would rather forget.

 

He waited by the door until it was open. Sheldon appeared on the other side, with a notebook and a pencil in hand, his hair was tussled and he was still wearing the same clothes he had used the day before, looking as if he had spent the whole night awake he glared at Leonard.

 

“Morning!” he said trying to sound cheerful “How was your … night? Is Penny feeling better now? Can I come and see her?” he asked trying to show his obvious concern in the way he spoke.

 

“Good Morning Leonard, I had a very busy night here, I don’t know what you heard but Penny is not suffering in any way, though I cannot tell you if she’s feeling better than yesterday, as whether if you can see her… I’m afraid that’s not a possibility right now”

 

“What’s going on there? Listen, I have no problem with anything happening between you two… if that’s even happening anyway. I’m just worried, this is unusual”

 

“I’m working on it, now leave. I have work to do” said Sheldon practically slamming the door.

 

Baffled Leonard stood facing the door for a few seconds, until he finally caught up and left muttering angrily to himself.

 

* * *

 

 

“I hope it’s not too difficult for you Penny, this data you need to get will help me know where are you, maybe that way I can work some spells to connect that dimension to this one and get you back”

 

_“Don’t worry sweetie, I’m trying my best, I’m not going to stay stuck in this place forever! Now, show me that wand movement once more.”_

“Are you sure you’re not hungry”

 

_“I can handle it, Sheldon, don’t worry”_

 

* * *

 

 

By the evening it was Howard and Bernadette who knocked at the door. Sheldon opened the door with a grunt instead of a greeting, concentrated more on the notes in his notebook than on the pair looking at him confused.

 

“Hi, Sheldon, can we come in?” asked Bernadette trying to push her way past Sheldon.

 

“You can’t, sorry” he said lifting his gaze from the notebook for just a second.

 

“Why?” asked Howard trying to sound casual “You look completely exhausted, you sure need some help. We can help you, come one, let us in!”

 

Sheldon looked at him with a frown, as if he couldn’t believe he was suggesting such thing.

 

“I said NO. Leave!” he said and the closed the door.

 

* * *

 

 

 _“Oh! You brought_ that _thing! What is is? How does it work? Is it going to help you find me?”_

 

“Penny, you know I cannot answer all those questions right now, I’m trying to help you! … But yes, I’m hopping this will help us, we’ve got to get you out of there soon”

 

_“Hey, did you see that?”_

 

“What?”

 

 _“A_ wave _… It must have been my imagination”_

 

* * *

 

 

It was already getting dark when Amy and Raj took their turn and approached Penny’s apartment. When Sheldon opened the door he was holding a plate with a sandwich.

 

“Yes?” he asked when neither of them talked.

 

“Sheldon is everything okay, do you need help with anything at all?” asked Amy.

 

“I’m fine thank you.”

 

“Can you ask Penny? She might need some help too” when Raj said the last sentence Sheldon’s face turned worried and a bit sad.

 

“Sorry, but even if she needed your help you wouldn’t be able to do anything for her.”

 

“But what is happening? We’re just worried” pleaded Amy, looking him in the eye and holding the door open. She took a quick glance to the living room. “What are you working on? Why do you need all those books?”

 

Sheldon pressed his lips together; he stepped back and once again tried to push the door closed.

 

“Wait!” said Raj standing in the way. “You should trust us, we’re you’re friends, whatever is going on, we want to help you.”

 

“Just a little more” said Sheldon in a low voice “I just need more time… please. Just a few more hours and if I have nothing then I’ll call and let you help” Raj was a bit surprised by his answer, so he moved and allowed him to close the door.

 

* * *

 

 

“Penny…” Sheldon waited until the blonde looked up at him, it broke his heart to see her grow weak in that dimension, but still he needed to ask her something “where did you get this book?” he said showing her the stolen book.

 

_“Oh… that book. Is just… I-I… I needed it for something…”_

 

“That doesn’t answer my question”

 

 _“You won’t like the answer”_ Sheldon sighed…

 

“Okay. We’ll talk about it other day… Are you okay? You haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.”

 

_“I’m fine. For now. I’m just tired”_

 

“You should sleep, I’ll be here.”

 

_“Thanks sweetie”_

 

* * *

 

 

Later that night the group gathered in 4A was discussing the situation.

 

“But what is he doing? Is not as if Penny will be better than any of us helping him with whatever he’s working” said Leonard pacing in front of the group.

 

“Maybe he did something to Penny, an experiment of sorts and he just doesn’t know how to solve it now” suggested Raj, who was standing next to the couch, he had his arms crossed in front of him, eyes fixed on the floor and a frown on his face.

 

“But that’s just not right, what if she’s seriously damaged, maybe not in a physical way, but emotionally…” asked Howard looking at Amy and Bernadette who both seemed to be at the verge of tears with anxiousness.

 

“What if he experimented on her brain?” asked Raj.

 

“I don’t think he’ll do that, you all work in that area because you can’t stand the sight of blood or inner organs, maybe we’re looking at it wrong…” said Amy rubbing her arms, she was sitting at the edge of the middle cushion on the couch, tension irradiating from her.

 

“What do you mean?” asked Berny in a low voice, almost a whisper.

 

“What if Penny actually thought of something brilliant and Sheldon is helping her with it?” suggested Raj once again, he was visibly nervous.

 

“That’s just hard to believe… Not because Penny isn’t clever, she is. I just don’t think Sheldon will do all of this without letting us know about it too. We’re a team” said Leonard with a weak smile as he stopped pacing.

 

“Hardly… Anyway, the thing is that he asked for more time, I say we give him until midday tomorrow. Not too early, but not too late either…” suggested Howard wrapping his arms around Bernadette.

 

“What if it’s already too late?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

 

“He would be already here if that was the case” silence fell in the room for a moment.

 

“Right, twelve o’clock it is. If Sheldon hasn’t solved his problem by then we’ll break in by force.”

 

* * *

 

 

The sound of someone knocking over crystal woke her up, she turned around from the spot she had been sleeping on and looked at Sheldon. The physicist was smiling at her.

 

“Good morning.”

 

“Good morning Sheldon” she said stretching out, she was still tired and her body ached for having had slept there, not that she was complaining, with the mist surrounding everything and all, but the floor was stone hard and cold as ice, so it hadn’t been a really comfortable situation. Her stomach growled with hunger, and she rubbed it trying to stay stong.

 

“I think I have it now.”

 

“Really?” she asked, she had forgotten to write it on the mirror, but Sheldon had probably understood because his smile widened.

 

“I still don’t know if this will work, we will need to test it first, just to be sure…”

 

Penny reached for her wand and approached the mirror. _“How are we going to do that?”_

“I was thinking that we can use one of your shoes, if that object makes the trip back safely you can try it next” said Sheldon.

 

Penny smiled proudly at him, she had saw him work hard a whole night and then the whole following day, he had made lots of calculations, he had even asked her to perform some really difficult spells to have an approximation of the place she was at, he had used that colorful cloud she had seen at his office and had placed glowing marks on different spots of it with the data, by then she had a idea of what it could be, but hadn’t asked yet.

 

In that moment what looked like a wave made the surface of the mirror tremble in front of her.

 

She wondered for a moment if she should try it… it could work. But at the same time she was afraid, what if she ended up in a different dimension this time, unable to contact Sheldon or come back?

 

Instead she listened to him, his plan was to use again the mirror from her bathroom, using the coordinates and data he had gathered to see if it was possible to take it back.

 

It actually took him an hour or so to finish all the spells he had to activate before they could test it. Again, the light coming from that spot in particular in the dimension she was trapped in appeared and Penny felt excited about it.

 

“You should push your shoe inside it and we’ll see if it works” said Sheldon on the other side.

 

Penny stepped out of her blue flat shoe and with a last glance to it she pushed it in the direction of the light. It went through…

 

She had started to smile, but the lack of reaction from Sheldon made her wonder and she walked back to look at him.

 

He was examining a weird object, flat as a paper… It was her shoe but it had been flattened, to the point where it looked like a photograph of it taken from the very tip.

 

They shared a glance, but then Sheldon lifted a finger and pushed the shoe back over the mirror. But it didn’t go back.

 

“Well… at least now we know we’re in the right dimension, I just need to polish some details” said Sheldon standing up, defeat clear in his stance.

 

Just then there was an angry knocking on the door.

 

“SHELDON OPEN THE DOOR!” shouted Leonard from the other side.

 

With a worried glance to her now, he walked out of the room. Penny knew she had to hide for a while, their friends couldn’t see what was going on; they wouldn’t understand it… or believe it.

 

She heard the lock click open and then lots of voices speaking at once.

 

“Where is Penny?”

 

“What have you done to her?”

 

“What crazy experiment have you been doing on her?”

 

Before she could actually hide the whole gang entered her apartment, she could hear Leonard and Howard still yelling at Sheldon, probably stopping him from moving away from the door. Amy and Bernadette entered her bedroom calling for her, Bernadette entered the bathroom and Amy started searching in the bedroom (everywhere, under the bed, inside her wardrobe… where did she think Sheldon had her?), she even looked behind the mirror, luckily for her when Amy caught a glimpse of her in the mirror she might have thought it was her imagination because she left.

 

A moment later she could hear all her friends chastising Sheldon, shouting at him and calling him names, for his attitude and her disappearance. She immediately felt guilty, this wasn’t Sheldon’s fault, he had been trying nonstop to help her…

 

Again the surface of the mirror waved in front of her, but again she ignored it, trying to remember all the spells Sheldon had performed, she didn’t knew them all, there had to be a way to… do something.

 

But it was useless, she started crying, pacing in front of the mirror not caring if anyone saw her now.

 

Howard and Raj entered her bedroom and grabbed some books from the bed, she looked at them, but they didn’t look back at her, they walked out of her room and started talking to Sheldon again. Trying to at least know what was happening she paid attention to what they were saying.

 

“Sheldon, what the hell is going on here?” asked Bernadette in her most annoyed ‘Mrs. Wolowitz’ voice.

 

“Tell us where is Penny! Why can’t we get in contact with her?” asked Amy in her usual unsure but angry voice.

 

“I thought it was obvious. She’s not here, she gave me permission to be here and … she forgot her phone”

 

“Don’t try to play games with me Sheldon” said Bernadette again.

 

“But it’s true! Ask Leonard, he knows I’m terrible at lying.”

 

“He’s right. Sheldon just doesn’t lie, he has ticks” said Leonard’s voice.

 

“You said she gave you permission to be here, that means she told you where she was going…”

 

“No. She didn’t…”

 

“Why would she let you stay here? And why would you leave this place in such a mess?” asked Howard this time.

 

“Howard is right, you don’t like when things are out of place, why would you let it stay like this?”

 

“I-it just happened. I’ve been working…”

 

“But what have you been working on? Of all places, in Penny’s apartment” asked Raj in a more relaxed tone “You said you needed time and that if you couldn’t solve it you were going to ask our help”

 

Penny heard Sheldon sigh, probably in frustration, and for a moment she pictured him letting go of his façade and acting the way he always was with her.

 

“I-I… I don’t know how to explain this”

 

“Well, we have all day. And if Penny doesn’t return or communicate by tomorrow we’ll call the police”

 

Penny’s eye’s widened, if Sheldon went to prison then… No, that was not going to happen, he was going to solve it.

 

“And what kind of rubbish books are this anyway?” said Howard now in a mocking tone.

 

“ _Circumstances and Exceptions_ … _Apparition_. Where did you even get these books? Are you and Penny trying to open a joke store?”

 

“Though you do have some ‘normal’ books with you, theories about multiple universes, string theory and advanced calculus…”

 

“Sheldon, we know you’re one of the most intelligent men in the world, what you’re doing right now might be something we fail to understand, but we’re worried. We want to know where Penny is, just tell us and then we will help you with whatever it is you’re working on”

 

Penny frowned, the way Leonard was talking to Sheldon made it feel as if he were not as intelligent as he had just said, more like a child or a retarded person, with some guilt she had to admit that she had sometimes done the same, and Sheldon had answered the way they wanted him to, how humiliating could that possibly be, how could Sheldon put up with it without complaints? After all, he really was a brilliant physicist, an amazing wizard and a genius in both worlds…

 

“I can’t tell you”

 

“Why?”

 

“It’s a secret”

 

“Sheldon, you don’t lie, and you certainly don’t keep secrets, you’re physically unable to do so”

 

“Still, this is something that Penny wouldn’t want me to tell you, and you don’t have the right to know it, so I won’t display that information for you”

 

“Fine” said Leonard in that annoying tone of him that said that he was going to get things his way by doing something more ‘clever’ “But as far as I can see there’s no real reason for you to stay here, so we’re going back to the apartment, now”

 

“But I’m working!”

 

“Not anymore, you told Raj that you needed time, we all agreed to give you until noon today, so now, unless you want us to stay here and help you, you have to stop”

 

“Just tell us one thing” said Bernadette in her nicest voice “Is Penny alright? Do we have to worry about her?”

 

“I don’t know” said Sheldon in a whisper that she almost misses “But she will, I’m sure, as soon as I’m done with what I’m doing”

 

“Ok, come on, Sheldon you’re late for your own schedule…”

 

Some shuffling could be heard coming from her living room, then the door was closed and the silence filled her apartment…


	21. Back to reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I know! I'm still alive! Sadly, as many of you may have deduced: my "dinosaur" died. Yes, my old -OLD- computer stopped working just when I was in the middle of this chapter. It took me a while to remember what I had written, but happily I managed. That and also one challenge that took my time in a rented machine and the time it took for me to finally purchase this brand new computer and well... Here we are. Hopefully you can forgive me as I will try to post as soon as I can the last few chapters. Many apologies for leaving you hanging without posting an explanation, but I thought my offering of peace will be well received with a new chapter instead of a few words.

**21\. Back to reality**

Penny was left in silence in her own apartment, trapped, hungry and tired in a different dimension, she was alone and the only person who could help her had just been dragged away from her.

She tried to keep calm, feeling her body starting to shake with fear and sadness, she paced a bit in front of the mirror where she could see her own room, but she was soon proved unable to hold it any longer, she placed both her hands over her face and sobbed, feeling her tears coming out in huge drops.

She cried loudly, not caring of how much noise she made, no one could hear it anyway. If only she knew a bit more, if she could have somehow helped Sheldon with this problem she wouldn't be trapped there right now…

Dear Sheldon, so misunderstood, always being humiliated, always sub estimated, one of the greatest geniuses in the world and he had to tolerate spending time with friends that really didn't care that much about him. It wasn't right, they shouldn't be like this with him, she shouldn't be that way either.

Some time passed before she wiped the tears from her face even though she was still crying, hiccupping and sobbing, she should be trying to calm down, she should… As if things were simple right now.

Suddenly she heard a loud crack coming from the other side of the mirror and to her relief, she saw Sheldon on the other side.

"Penny!" he shouted, almost as if expecting her to be missing by now "Penny, forgive me. I didn't mean to leave you alone for so long, I'm sure it's been only ten minutes, but I'm back, please don't cry!" he said standing next to the crystal surface and placing a hand on it. His worried face told her he hadn't spent a good time either.

Penny shook her head and smiled, stepping close to the mirror as well and placing her own hand against his.

" _Did you disappear in front of them?_ " she wrote on the mirror once she calmed a bit more, wanting to know how he had managed to escape from their friend's hold. To her surprise, Sheldon's face lit with a smile.

"This is going to sound amazing…" he said and then cleared his throat "Penny, I come from the future," he said smiling, and making her giggle, he then showed her his time turner, that amazing little sand clock deserved her gratitude. "I had to wait a few hours in their sight until they thought I had already gone to bed, they're guarding my door and everything. I'm glad they don't know that I can do this, and I'm sure they didn't come back to your apartment, so we have until tomorrow morning."

" _That's great_ ," she said, trying to look joyful once more.

Sheldon clapped his hands in front of him and suddenly he was all business again. "So, where were we?" he asked, apparently his few hours pretending to be a hostage of their friends had made his energies return.

Penny bit her lip and then lifted her wand to write over the mirror surface. " _You'd just ruined one of my shoes._ "

Sheldon looked at her and rolled his eyes "It was rhetorical Penny, I do remember! And I know you will buy another pair of shoes, or knowing you, at least, five new pairs" he said smiling.

"So," he said lifting Penny's flattened shoe from the floor, where it had stayed unnoticed by their friends ", how are we going to avoid this? I need to think in a different way to bring you back…" Sheldon then started pacing the room a hand on his chin and his eyes on the ceiling as he thought.

Then he stopped and returned to the second mirror in the place, Penny observed him while he made some measurements on the surface, and then she watched amazed how with a simple spell he made the crystal thicken at least five inches wide, making it look more like a crystal brick.

"Penny, the spells I cast earlier are supposed to still be working, would you mind sending your other shoe to see if this changes anything?" he asked politely.

Penny placed her hands on her hips before taking off her other shoe and approaching the square that signaled the connection between the second mirror and that dimension. But Sheldon stopped her with a tap on the other mirror before she could do it.

"Try to place it in a vertical position; that should allow it to come through completely" Penny huffed, feeling her hands shaking and her stomach growl once again. She did as she was told, she could listen Sheldon reciting some spell while she gently pushed the shoe to the other side. She noticed then that around the edges of the shoe waves were moving, and the moment the last bit of the shoe passed through the surface she felt the tip of her fingers go through as well, but she pulled her hand out.

"Bingo!" she heard him shout and feeling happy once again she ran to the other mirror to look at him.

There he was, holding in his hands her left shoe, it was complete it wasn't flat as a paper… but, something was wrong. Sheldon turned around and sat on her bed right in front of her.

"It made it through, but I don't think you can use it again," he said turning the blue flat in his hands, she couldn't see anything wrong with it so she lifted and eyebrow and waited for him to explain it. "It's hard as a rock, you can still feel the texture of the fabric, but…" and for this he tried to twist the shoe a little, making it crack in the thinnest places "I can fix it with magic, but the problem is that I will probably need more than just one spell to fix you if this happens to your body".

Penny looked down, pressing her lips together and noticing how dry her mouth was right now, she would've killed for some water… Water! Penny suddenly felt very excited, she even lifted her hands in front of her face to avoid screaming, that was it. That was what they need: water!

The waves were the key, and also, she wasn't any science nerd but, wouldn't water preserve in a more natural way an object or a person better than glass? It was genius! Well, maybe not that genius, but probably Sheldon would approve.

The man in question was watching her with a quizzical look, maybe unsure if she was just losing her mind or if she had just remembered a joke he didn't know.

" _I think I can suggest something that will work!_ " she wrote on the mirror with a smile on her face.

"And what could that be?" asked Sheldon crossing his arms in front of him and looking at her with his patented disdain look.

" _Try using water!_ "

Sheldon sighed, moving one hand over his face before going completely still. She could see that his eyes had fixed on her.

"Well, in words of the great Sherlock Holmes and most recently Spock: _when you eliminate the possibilities, whatever remains, however, improbable must be the truth._ Not that it's improbable that this works, I just wish I had thought of that myself. " He stood up, pulled his wand out and kneeled beside the bathroom's mirror. Some flicks and complicated wand movements later he stood up, showing her that he had turned the glass into water. "So, what are you going to sacrifice now for this experiment Penny?"

Penny looked down at her attire, she had almost forgotten that she was still wearing her pajamas; it seemed so long ago that she had decided to spend a day doing nothing to then end up in this mess. She thought for a moment, what could she take off? At this point there was no point in feeling ashamed, she was trapped and she needed rescue, also Sheldon had already seen her naked before so that wasn't really the problem.

Still if she was going to lose something in this experiment, maybe her 'juicy' pants could be replaced. Without further thought, she shimmied out of her pants and showed them to Sheldon, who had had the decency of turning his gaze to another side.

"I'm guessing you're really confident that this is going to work, I don't want us to keep experimenting until you have nothing else left," he said, and Penny could have felt a bit upset but the subtle blush on his cheeks stopped her.

" _This will work. Believe me_ " she wrote approaching the other mirror and waiting until she could see Sheldon on the other side.

Slowly she pushed her pants on the surface, feeling the change when it started to float on the other side and then the pull when Sheldon pulled them out of the water.

Unable to stay still and wait to see if it had actually worked Penny moved to the mirror and watched. Sheldon was holding her dripping wet pants in his hands, looking at them as if he himself couldn't believe it. He turned his smiling face to see her and lifted them.

"It worked!"

Penny jumped up and down feeling happy; she was getting out of there!

"Now, wait," he said lifting a finger but still smiling "I'm going to fill your bathtub and get some food for you" Penny had never felt so grateful, it almost made her cry.

After that it didn't take long for Sheldon to move her mirror to the bathroom and place it in the water, luckily for her, the physicist could modify the size of the mirror for her to pass through it without trouble. However facing now her way out was very different to what she had expected.

She could still see the now enlarged square of light that represented her way out, but it was still in a vertical position and she knew that Sheldon had placed it flat over the base of the bathtub, she could see the ceiling from her position and that was really weird, how was she going to get out? What if the gravity started working on her once she was getting out and she just fell back inside this dimension again? It was so weird.

"Come on Penny! You have nothing to worry about, we know this works and you're not afraid of some water are you?" she rolled her eyes at Sheldon's encouragement.

Still, it was now or never and she was really hungry now! She took a deep breath, and while holding it, she passed her arms through the lightened space that signaled the connection between the second mirror and that dimension, feeling warm water surround her for a second, and then a pair of hands helping her out of it.

The next thing she knew they were on the bathroom floor, soaking wet, breathing heavily but in the same dimension. Sheldon had his arms around her and she was leaning against his chest. Before she could process everything that had happened in that few seconds Sheldon pulled her back from the shoulders, cradled her head in his hands and kissed her cheeks, her forehead, her nose and her lips in quick succession, before hugging her close once more.

It didn't take long for both of them to realize what had just happened. And she noticed Sheldon's reaction in the tightness of his hold, he was probably thinking about germs, human touch and inappropriate displays of affection and their consequences. She knew she was blushing and probably Sheldon could pass for a tomato right now, but regaining some composure she wrapped her arms around him too, both to reassure herself and keep him in place, and whispered. "I'm glad to be back too" that seemed to make him relax and she felt him sigh. They stayed like that for a minute or two, just enjoying the contact until Penny's stomach growled again.

"Am I smelling grilled cheese?" she asked looking for the food he had promised but without loosening her hold on his shoulders. That made him laugh, that weird breathy chuckle he made. Oh, it was so good to be back home!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short, but there'll be more.


End file.
